Five pro-Iranian fighters were killed Wednesday, December 25, in airstrikes on the Syrian city of Boukamal, in the province of Deir Ezzor (east of the country), said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) , without being able to identify the author of these raids.
"Missiles of unknown origin have targeted the headquarters of the "brigade 47" belonging to pro-Iranian militias in the town of Boukamal, in the east of Deir Ezzor province, killing five fighters ", said the OSDH.
The NGO, which reported on "Strong deflagrations" in the sector, could not give any indication on the origin of these strikes. "It could be drones", Agence France-Presse, director of the OSDH, Rami Abdel Rahmane, told Agence France-Presse.
The city of Boukamal is near the border with Iraq in the far east of Syria, and the province of Deir Ezzor is home to several actors in the Syrian conflict. Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces are engaged with the support of Iranian forces and foreign militias including Iraqi fighters. But an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is also present. It is supported by the international anti-jihadist coalition led by Washington, which has admitted in the past that it bombed proregime forces.
A similar attack in early December
On December 8, five pro-Iranian fighters were killed in similar raids around Boukamal, according to the OSDH. In September, twenty-eight pro-Iranian fighters, including at least ten Iraqis, died in identical strikes, the source said. An organ of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, supported by Tehran, had then blamed the strike on Israel, citing "A security source in Syria".
In June 2018, strikes in eastern Syria were also blamed on Israel by an American official in Washington on condition of anonymity. The raids killed 55 fighters of pro-regime forces, including Syrians and Iraqis, according to the OSDH.
The Syrian conflict, sparked in 2011 by the suppression of pro-democracy protests, has grown more complex over the years with the involvement of a multitude of foreign actors and powers. This war left more than 370,000 people dead and millions displaced.
