U.S. retaliatory bombings this morning against pro-Iran militia positions in Syria and Iraq have left nearly 40 people dead in both countries, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Iraqi government.
According to the Observatory, a UK-based NGO with a wide network of staff on the ground, US bombings in eastern Syria killed at least 23 people, including nine “Syrian fighters”.
So far, the official death toll in Syria has not been announced, although the country’s Defense Ministry said the bombings caused “the deaths of a number of civilians and soldiers” and “significant damage to public and private property.” Not specified.
For its part, the Iraqi government denounced that at least 16 people, including civilians, had died in the west of the country as a result of these first air strikes by Washington in retaliation for the deaths of three of its soldiers in Jordan, which were attributed to pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.
Washington this morning announced bombings of more than 85 targets and facilities linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria and Iraq. This was “the beginning” of its response to the attack on its troops in Jordan, which both countries viewed as a violation of their sovereignty.
In Syria, airstrikes focused on the Al Mayadin area, considered the country’s “Iranian capital,” as well as Deir al Zur and the Al Bukamal district, which borders Iraq and is a key supply route for the militias. pro-Iranian allies of the Syrian government.
In total, the bombings spanned a strip of about 130 kilometers and resulted in the destruction of 27 “key” targets belonging to Tehran-backed groups, according to the Observatory.
In Iraq, the bombings targeted positions of the pro-government militia group Popular Multitude, which is de facto integrated into the Iraqi armed forces, in the Al Qaim and Akashat areas near the border with Syria.
The attack on US forces in Jordan was claimed by the pro-Iranian Islamic Resistance in Iraq militia group, some of which are also part of the popular multitude, while Washington accuses Iran of being behind the action.