Israeli Airstrikes Kill 16 Pro-Govt Fighters in Eastern Syria

Slain are mostly members of Iraqi militias

A flurry of Israeli airstrikes pounded sites held by Iraqi Shi’ite militias on Thursday morning, killing at least 16 of the pro-government fighters. Attacks are mostly on the outskirts of Mayadeen, in Deir Ezzor Province.

The main Shi’ite militia hit was Ketaib Hezbollah, though other warplanes attacked al-Bukamal, which also has other Shi’ite militias active within, also Iraqi. In both cases, Israeli media positions all of those targeted as “Iranian.”

All of these strikes came a few hours after Israel attacked the Homs Airport. It’s not clear if these attacks are related, or are just Israeli attacks that happened to be coincidentally close to one another.

Israel is also not confirming any of these strikes, though attacking Shi’ites in Syria is so par for the course that there is little doubt that the attackers are Israeli, and continuation of an ongoing campaign of strikes.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.