- Airstrikes in eastern Syria kill at least 8, including an Iranian adviser
- Responsibility remains unclear; US denies involvement, Iran blames Israel
- WHO employee among casualties; strikes first in area since February
A war monitor and Syrian state media report that airstrikes in eastern Syria have claimed the lives of at least eight individuals, including an Iranian military adviser and a World Health Organisation employee.
It was initially unknown who was responsible for Tuesday’s airstrikes.
At least fifteen people were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor affiliated with the Syrian opposition based in Britain. Among them were two Syrians working with the Iranians, an adviser from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran, nine Iraqi fighters from an Iran-backed group, and two Syrians.
According to Syrian state media, a minimum of seven soldiers, one of whom was an IRGC member, and one civilian were slain. Syrian state media reported that the strikes, which targeted residential areas and military locations in the province of Deir ez-Zor and caused extensive damage to both public and private properties, injured at least thirteen civilians and nineteen additional soldiers.
According to the WHO, Emad Shehab, an engineer residing in the provincial capital of Deir ez-Zor, perished when his structure was targeted in a sequence of aerial bombardments that ravaged the region.
It was stated that Shehab was the WHO’s point of contact in the Syrian city regarding water, sanitation, and hygiene.
“The premature demise of Shehab not only causes profound sorrow for his family members but also serves as a poignant reminder of the persistent violence and anguish endured by the Syrian people,” said Hanan Balkhy, the regional director of the World Health Organisation for the eastern Mediterranean, in a statement.
Global Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X, “My colleagues and I are devastated by the tragic loss of another one of our own in an airstrike in Syria this morning.”
No immediate assertion of responsibility was made regarding the strikes. Israel assaults Iranian-aligned targets in Syria on occasion but rarely acknowledges their existence.
The United States denied any involvement in the overnight assaults.
Last night, no airstrikes were conducted in Syria, according to Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh, who told reporters in Washington.
The Iranian state-run news agency IRNA attributed the attack to “the Zionist regime,” an allusion to Israel.
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The deceased military advisor was identified by IRNA as Behrouz Vahedi, a member of the Quds force, the IRGC’s foreign operations branch.
The strikes were the first of their kind in eastern Syria since early February, according to the Observatory.
A short distance from the villa, Hammoud al-Jabbour, reported to AFP that he awoke to the sound of explosions.
He stated, “It was among the largest strikes I’ve ever heard.” “Several neighbourhoods lost power, major roads were closed, and the windows of my residence were shattered.”
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