SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Israel has bombed Iranian-backed militia bases near the Iraqi border in the early hours on Wednesday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
SANA and state media said Israel had struck in Al Bukamal, a border town on the Euphrates river which lies on a major supply route, as well as areas in the province and city of Deirez-Zor, according to Reuters.
Reuters cited military defectors and Western intelligence sources as saying the raids focused on Al Bukamal, which lies on the most important land route for deliveries of Iranian weapons and fighters into Syria.
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. intelligence official with knowledge of the attack told AP that the airstrikes were carried out with intelligence provided by the United States.
The official added that the strikes targeted a series of warehouses in Syria that were being used in a pipeline to store and stage Iranian weapons, The Associated Press reported.
Israel says its goal was to end Iran’s military presence while Western intelligence sources say has expanded in recent years in the war-torn country, Reuters said.
Iran’s proxy militias led by Lebanon’s Hezbollah now hold sway over vast areas in eastern, southern and northwestern Syria, as well as several suburbs around Damascus.
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 18 strikes were in Deir ez-Zor and along the border with Iraq, adding that several arms depots were hit.
The war monitor reported 40 people were killed, including eight Syrian troops, and the rest were Iran-backed fighters. Seventy-seven others were wounded, it said.
