Alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted sites in the Deir Ezzor region of eastern Syria and in Albukamal near the Syria-Iraq border on Tuesday night, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.According to SANA, the damages caused by the airstrike are being evaluated.
The strikes targeted a series of warehouses and sites belonging to pro-Iranian militias throughout the area, according local news source Deir Ezzor 24. Casualties were reported in the airstrikes, according to the Step News Agency.
Targets belonging to Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias in the Deir Ezzor area have been repeatedly targeted by airstrikes, often reported as "unidentified aircraft," in recent years.
This is the third alleged Israeli airstrike reported in Syria in the past three weeks.
Last week, an alleged Israeli airstrike targeted locations in southern Syria as explosions were heard in the skies over Damascus on Wednesday night.
The strike reportedly targeted weapons depots, observation points and radar sites belonging to the Syrian military and pro-regime militias.
The IDF has reportedly increased air defenses in the Eilat area and remains on alert along the northern border due to concerns that Iran could carry out an attack against Israel from Lebanon, Syria or Yemen. Tensions have been high in light of an alleged Israeli airstrike last year in which a Hezbollah terrorist was killed and the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, which Iranian officials accuse Israel of conducting.
Israeli airstrikes after midnight Tuesday targeted a number of sites near the Iraqi border, Syrian media reported.
According to Syria’s official SANA news agency, the strikes hit the areas of Albu Kamal and Deir Ezzor. The report said officials were assessing if any damage or casualties were caused.
The Israel Defense Forces had no comment on the late-night strikes, in accordance with its policy to neither confirm nor deny its operations in Syria, save for those in retaliation for an attack from the country.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-Syrian opposition organization said that at least 18 strikes had targetted bases and storehouses used by pro-Iranian militias. It said there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The area targeted has reportedly been repeatedly struck by Israel in recent years as it houses a number of bases used by Iranian-backed groups and is key to a land corridor for Tehran that links Iran across Iraq and Syria through Lebanon, which Iran uses to smuggle in weapons and rockets, mainly to the Hezbollah terror group.
The strike comes after reports last week that Israeli jets hit targets near Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed those strikes killed three Iran-backed fighters. The claim could not be verified and was not reported by other sources in Syria. The group has regularly been accused by Syrian war analysts of inflating casualty numbers, as well as inventing them wholesale.
In response to the attack, the Syrian military fired a large number of surface-to-air missiles and other anti-aircraft weapons into the sky. The military source told SANA that most of the incoming Israeli missiles were intercepted. Such claims by the Syrian military are generally disregarded by Syrian war analysts, who consider them false, empty boasts.
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