US bombs in eastern Syria claimed the lives of at least eight pro-Iranian rebels, according to a war monitor. Washington had announced the assaults a day earlier in retaliation to attacks on US personnel.
The toll is “eight pro-Iran fighters dead, including at least one Syrian, and Iraqi nationals”, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, following the strikes late Sunday on the Mayadeen and Albu Kamal areas of Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province.
In reaction to attacks on US personnel, the US launched strikes against two Iran-affiliated locations in Syria, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Sunday.
The US military has attacked sites in Syria it claimed were connected to Iran, which Washington accuses of supporting a number of armed organizations responsible for an increase in attacks on American soldiers in the Middle East, for the third time in less than three weeks.
“US military forces conducted precision strikes today on facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-affiliated groups in response to continued attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Austin said in a statement.
“The strikes were conducted against a training facility and a safe house near the cities of Albu Kamal and Mayadeen, respectively,” he said.The strikes, according to the British Observatory, totally destroyed a weapons storage in a town in the rural area of Albu Kamal. They also caused a series of explosions when the ammo caught fire.
It stated that the strikes hit a missile launch station close to Mayadeen.
The goal of the strikes, according to the US, is to prevent further attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, which have resulted in over 45 attacks since October 17 and have injured numerous US service members.
