Explosions were heard in “areas controlled by Iranian militias” near Albukamal in eastern Syria near the Iraq-Syria border on Monday evening, according to local news source Deir Ezzor 24. The explosions were believed to be caused by rockets, although some reports indicated that an airstrike had targeted the area. The strong explosions were heard on the other side of the Euphrates River.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that members of ISIS intensively shelled positions belonging to Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias in the Deir Ezzor area where Albukamal is located on Monday evening. Regime forces responded with heavy artillery and flares. It is unclear if the exchange of fire is connected to the explosions reported by Deir Ezzor 24. The SOHR reported on Sunday that Iran-backed militias had reportedly evacuated their headquarters in Albukamal and spread throughout orchards on the banks of the Euphrates River. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is reportedly seizing civilian houses in the Deir Ezzor area in eastern Syria. The land crossing between Iraq and Syria at Albukamal that reopened in November was closed again on Monday, according to Deir Ezzor 24.
Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias fired three shells at the Conoco gas field in the Deir Ezzor area of eastern Syria on Sunday night. No casualties were reported in the Conoco attack.
According to Reuters, six rockets fell in and near the Green Zone in Baghdad. Several civilians in the area were injured, according to Al Arabiya. The attacks on Sunday came after Iranian-backed militias and US forces traded blows on Saturday night, as rocket attacks targeted Baghdad’s Green Zone and a base housing US forces, followed by a series of attacks on bases housing Iranian and pro-Iranian forces in Iraq and Syria.
Militias along the Iraq-Syria border have been high alert since the strike on Soleimani. An air strike reportedly struck an Iranian-militia base near the border within Syrian territory on Saturday night, according to Arab media.
Multiple people were injured and killed in the airstrike targeting a base belonging to the Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) along the Iraqi-Syrian border, according to Al Arabiya.
Three military vehicles were destroyed in an airstrike on Iranian-backed militias in Deir Ezzor in Syria along the border with Iraq, according to Deir Ezzor 24. The news site earlier reported a possible strike in Albukamal, which is home to a major Iranian base.
Earlier this week, a new Iranian-backed militia called the “al-Sayyida Zeinab Regiment,” arrived in Albukamal along the Iraq-Syria border.
Multiple airstrikes have targeted Iranian forces and militias in eastern Syria in the past few months. A strategic border crossing between Iraq and Syria and the Iranian-controlled Imam Ali military base is located in the border town of Al-Bukamal. IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Solemani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, along with at least 10 other people, were killed in a US air strike in Baghdad on Thursday.
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