Israeli Airstrikes Kill 10 on Syria-Iraq Border

Vehicles, ammunition depots reported destroyed

Israel’s escalation of attacks inside Syria continued in the far-east Monday, at the Iraqi border crossing of al-Bukamal. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 10 militia members were killed, and that they also hit ammunition depots and vehicles.

The Observatory said this was another instance of targeting “pro-Iran” fighters. In this case, that almost certainly means Iraqi militias, as Iraqi Shi’ite militias are active in anti-ISIS operations on both sides of the border, and often are targeted by Israel.

Israeli attacks are almost always characterized as targeting Iran, even though they almost never hit actual Iranians. This reflects Israel’s view of Shi’ite groups in generally as part of some anti-Israel Iranian bloc.

As usual, Israel has not commented on the Monday attack, saying that it is their policy not to comment on reports from the foreign media. This has led to very rare official comment on Israel’s many military strikes, though Israeli media reports those as presumptive attacks, and Iran as the presumptive target.

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.