IDF suspected in attack on Iranian targets in eastern Syria

As previously reported, on the night of March 26, airstrikes were conducted on the headquarters of pro-Iranian (allied) forces in Deir ez-Zor and Al-Mayadin, eastern Syria, near the border with Iraq.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti, citing a local source, reported that several servicemen were killed and at least 15 civilians were injured, including women and children. The report stated that the attack was carried out by an "unknown aircraft."

Following the airstrikes, Syrian opposition sources asserted that one of the commanders of the Iranian militia, Haj Askar, was killed, along with a Syrian citizen named Imad Adnan Shahab, an "engineer," whose residence was destroyed in the attack.

At least 15 people were reported killed, with dozens injured. Based on available information, most of the casualties were not Syrians.

The London-based monitoring group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported at least seven Iranian-backed fighters killed.

Some Syrian sources express confidence that Israel is behind the attack.

SOHR listed the targets attacked, including a villa in the Al-Filat area in the city of Deir ez-Zur, utilized as a headquarters by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC headquarters in the Al-Abbas area, two additional facilities in Al- Abbas, sites in Al-Bukamal, and locations near Al-Mayadin.

The SOHR report noted that the strikes occurred several hours after an Iranian transport plane from Damascus landed at Deir ez-Zur airport. According to SOHR, the plane carried “logistical and technical materials, as well as representatives of the IRGC.”

Historically, attacks on targets in this area, according to Syrian and foreign media, have been carried out by both the American and Israeli air forces.

Israeli and US authorities have not commented on this strike on targets in eastern Syria.