An
that killed more than 50 pro-regime fighters in eastern Syria, most of them foreign, was carried out by Israel, not the United States, a US official told CNN Monday.A US source also told AFP: "We have reasons to believe that it was an Israeli strike."
Damascus has accused the US-led coalition of carrying out the late night June 17 strike on al-Hari, a town near the Iraqi border controlled by regional militias fighting in the complex seven-year war on behalf of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
An Iraqi paramilitary force said 22 of its fighters were killed in the raid, and also accused the United States of carrying out the strike.
"US planes fired two guided missiles at a fixed position of Hashed al-Shaabi units on the border with Syria, killing 22 fighters and wounding 12," said the Iran-backed Hashed (Popular Mobilization Units).
The US has denied any coalition aircraft were in the area at the time of the strike.
Israel declined to comment, but a strike so far from its border would veer from most other strikes in Syria attributed to Israel, which have largely taken place closer to Syria’s borders with Israel and Leb.
The target, apparently Shiite Iraqi militia fighters loyal to Assad, would also mark a shift for Israel, which has previously only carried out airstrikes against Iran’s forces and its proxies, according to reports.
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel was "taking action ‐ against efforts to establish a military presence by Iran and its proxies in Syria both close to the border and deep inside Syria. We will act against these efforts anywhere in Syria."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based monitor of the conflict, said 52 pro-regime forces were killed in the air attack ‐ one of the deadliest in recent months.
"Among them are at least 30 Iraqi fighters and 16 Syrians, including soldiers and members of loyalist militias," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The nationalities of the remaining six fighters were not immediately known, he said. There are Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese and even Afghan fighters stationed in the area.
According to Abdel Rahman, some maimed fighters were treated in the nearby town of Albu Kamal while others traveled across the border to Iraq.
A military source in Deir Ezzor told AFP the warplanes hit "joint Iraqi-Syrian positions in al-Hari."
The attack was first reported by Syrian state media overnight, which cited a military source and accused the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
terror group of carrying it out.
It said several people were killed and maimed, but did not give a specific number or their nationalities.
The coalition’s press office said it had heard reports that a strike in the area had killed and maimed members of a pro-regime Iraqi militia, but denied it was responsible.
"There have been no strikes by US or coalition forces in that area," it told AFP by email.
Iraqi military says no troops shelled by U.S.-Coalition in Syria
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Military has said troops on borders with Syria were not shelled by the U.S.-led Coalition troops, while other forces that were shelled were 1500 kilometers in the depth of Syria lands, adding that there were no communication with those forces.
In a statement, the Security Media Center said "security troops, including army, police and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces) are working on securing the Iraqi borders as well as the Syrian borders. Those forces were not exposed to either
s or other strikes."Earlier today, PMFs said up to 34 fighters of its members were killed and maimed Sunday after the U.S.-led international coalition targeted a military outpost in the Syrian city of al-Bu Kamal.
"We would like to confirm that were were not in communication with them and there was no coordination with security troops and the forces that were shelled," it added.
"As we feel sorry for the fall of victims in Syria and offer our condolences to families of the victims and injured, we conducted investigations on the authorities in question regarding the loss of Iraqi people and violating the Iraqi-Syrian illusory sovereignty," the statement said.
The center also indicated contacting the head of PMFs, who "clarified that he did not check the statement issued by the forces and that no PMFs were outside the Iraqi-Syrian borders."