19 pro-Iran fighters killed in Syria strikes: monitor

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "19 pro-Iranian fighters,including four Syrians, and six Iraqis, were killed and more than 18 werewounded" in at least nine air strikes overnight near the Iraqi bordering.
t said the raids were "likely carried out by Israel", after earlierindicating they were "likely American".
A US military official, requesting anonymity, said the "US did not conductany defensive strikes overnight".
he Observatory said the strikes targeted military positions in Albu Kamaland its surroundings in Deir Ezzor province, adding that a weapons shipmentfrom Iraq and an ammunition warehouse were also hit.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it hasrepeatedly said it will not allow arch-foe Iran, which backs President Basharal-Assad's government, to expand its presence there.
Later Saturday, the Observatory said that "Israeli missiles targetedwarehouses and bases of pro-Iran groups" in northern Syria in an area near theAleppo airport, killing three fighters and wounding several others.
Syrian state media, citing a military source, said that at around 5:20 pm(1420 GMT), "the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack... targeting a numberof points south of the city of Aleppo", reporting only "material damage".
During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launchedhundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backedforces including Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.
But it has intensified attacks since the war between Israel and Hamas beganon October 7, as tensions rise across the Middle East.
Iranian state media said an Israeli strike on Monday near Damascus killedRazi Moussavi, a senior commander in the Quds Force, the foreign operations armof Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.             
- Strikes in south Syria -                 
Overnight in southern Syria's Quneitra province, near the Israeli-occupiedGolan Heights, "Israeli ground bombardment" killed two fighters from aHezbollah-linked group, said the Britain-based Observatory.
The pair, "of Palestinian origin", were "members of a group affiliated withthe Syrian Resistance to Liberate the Golan, which works with Lebanon'sHezbollah", said the monitor which relies on sources inside war-torn Syria forits reports.
The Israeli army had said early Saturday that it was carrying out strikesin Syria after two rockets fired from the country fell into territory under itscontrol.      
The army did not give the precise location where they fell.
Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement, which like Hamas in the Gaza Stripis supported by Iran, announced on Saturday the death of four of its fighters"on the road to Jerusalem" -- a reference to militants killed in hostilitiessince October 7.
It was unclear where they were killed.
There have been regular cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel andHezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The Middle East has also seen a surge in attacks on US forces, whichWashington blames on Tehran-aligned armed groups across the region, since thestart of the Israel-Hamas war.
The majority have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a looseformation of Iran-linked armed groups which oppose US support for Israel, reports BSS.