The US-led coalition overnight Monday attacked one of the Syrian Army’s positions in the southeast area of Deir Ezzor, near the Iraqi border, leaving 40 dead, various sources inside Syria reported.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Lebanese Hezbollah and other militias loyal to the regime were targeted by warplanes at the Syrian–Iraqi border, in al-Harra, southeast of Albu Kamal and east of Deir Ezzor. The Observatory documented the death of about 40 militias in this attack. The death toll is expected to rise because some of the casualties are in critical condition, and there are reports of some missing persons in the aftermath of the attack.
A local source cited by Reuters claimed as many as 95 dead.
SANA, the regime’s official news agency, on Monday quoted a military source that stated: “The US-led coalition on Sunday targeted one of our military positions in the town of Al-Hiri, southeast of al-Boukamal city, leaving a number of martyrs and wounding other people.”
“The coalition has been targeting the military positions in a desperate attempt to raise the collapsed morale of the terrorist organizations due to the achievements of the Syrian army,” SANA explained.
That’s some morale boost.
An American Central Command spokesman told Reuters that “no member of the US-led coalition carried out strikes near Albu Kamal.”
An Israeli military spokeswoman told Reuters: “We do not comment on foreign reports.”
According to the Observatory, ISIS has been able to seize large quantities of weapons, ammunition, and equipment during its recent attacks on regime forces, and it is mobilizing its men and vehicles on the west bank of Euphrates river for an all out attack against the regime forces, Iranian forces, Hezbollah and the foreign militias.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday that he had told President Vladimir Putin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Israel would be taking action against the military presence of Iran everywhere in Syria.
“I reiterated our main principles towards Syria – first of all, Iran must leave the territory of Syria. Secondly, we will be taking measures and we are already taking action against efforts to establish the military presence of Iran and its satellites close to the border [with Israel] and deep in Syria. We will act against these efforts in any part of Syria,” the PM insisted.
On Friday, the Kremlin press service said Putin and Netanyahu discussed over the phone the situation in Syria and joint steps to ensure security on the Syrian-Israeli border. The two leaders “expressed readiness to bolster coordination on Syria, including the issues of countering international terrorism.”
