TEL AVIV – Israeli fighters launched air strikes in eastern Syria early Wednesday, killing dozens of people in one of the deadliest attacks on sites used by Iranian-backed militias, according to independent war observers.
The strikes took place in several locations, including in and near the cities of Deir Ezzour, Mayadeen and al-Boukamal on the border between Syria and Iraq, Syrian state news agency SANA said. The attacks targeted positions of the Syrian government, arms depots and pro-Iranian militias, according to Syrian state media and Suhaib Jaber, who heads Euphrates Post, an independent war monitor.
About 40 members of the armed forces linked to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were killed, according to Omar Abu Layla, who heads the Deir Ezzor24 activist network.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the attack.
“Israel is determined to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in Syria,” said Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s minister of community affairs and member of the security cabinet. But he declined to comment specifically on the latest strike.