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Drone strike on Syria-Iraq border kills 5 pro-Iran militiamen

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights did not identify the attacker.

Golan Heights
A view of the Israeli and Syrian Hermon mountain range, along the Golan Heights, on Feb. 8, 2024. Photo by Michael Giladi/Flash90.

Five members of a pro-Iranian militia died in a drone strike on a vehicle near the Syrian-Iraqi border on Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The U.K-based monitor did not identify who launched the drone, which struck near the village of Al-Kishmah in the Deir ez-Zor region of eastern Syria.

The attack came less than 48 hours after several United States and coalition personnel suffered minor injuries when a suicide drone hit the Rumalyn Landing Zone in northeastern Syria.

No terrorist organization claimed responsibility for that attack, but similar strikes in the past have been carried out by Iran-backed militias.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military shelled Syrian Army targets in the Daraa region in the southwestern part of the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The group reported “consecutive explosions” near the border with the Israeli part of the Golan Heights, claiming the IDF hit a “post of regime forces in Tel Al-Jabiyah area in western Daraa countryside, where smoke was seen rising from the targeted site and ambulances rushed to the site.”

Israel has attacked hundreds of terrorist targets in Syria in recent years, as part of an effort to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in the country. However, Jerusalem rarely acknowledges these incidents.

Between Oct. 7 and May 15, Tehran’s proxies in Syria launched at least 40 projectiles across the border with Israel, according to IDF figures.

In February, Jerusalem revealed that it had struck more than 50 targets linked to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups in Syria since Oct. 7.

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