The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on the 25th that the death toll from US airstrikes on pro-Iranian facilities in eastern Syria had risen to 19.
The airstrikes were carried out in response to a drone strike on the 23rd that injured five US soldiers and an American contractor in an attack by pro-Iranian forces, Reuters reported.
SOHR said the US carried out retaliatory airstrikes on facilities used in Syria by a group belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which killed 19 people.
Among the dead were three Syrian soldiers, 11 pro-Syrian militia fighters and five non-Syrian fighters affiliated with government forces.
The head of SOHR, Rami Abdel Rahman, did not reveal the nationalities of the dead foreigners. Reuters said it could not independently confirm the nationalities of the dead.
Reuters, citing local sources, said the suspected US rocket launch took place in a larger area in eastern Syria.
The day before, President Joe Biden warned Iran that “the United States will act more forcefully to protect Americans.”
Iran has been a major supporter of Bashar al-Assad’s government during Syria’s 12-year civil war.
Pro-Iranian militias, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and pro-Iranian Iraqi militants, are influential in eastern, southern and northern Syria and in the suburbs near the capital, Damascus.
As pro-Iranian forces grow in Syria, Israeli airstrikes are regular, but the US rarely does so directly. The US is well aware of Iran’s drone program.
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