TEL AVIV – Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes on Wednesday morning in eastern Syria, killing dozens of people according to independent war monitors, in one of their deadliest attacks on places used by Iran-backed militias .
The attacks took place in several locations, including in the cities of Deir Ezzour, Mayadeen and al-Boukamal on the border between Syria and Iraq, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. The attacks targeted Syrian government positions, arms deposits and pro-Iranian militias, according to Syrian state media and Suhaib Jaber, who heads the Euphrates Post, an independent war monitor.
About 40 members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s allied forces were killed in the attack, according to Omar Abu Layla, who heads the activist network Deir Ezzor24.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the attack.
“Israel is determined to avoid Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria,” said Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s Minister of Community Affairs and a member of the security cabinet. But he declined to comment specifically on the latest attack.