SANA, the official state news agency of Syria, reported this morning that Israeli air strikes had hit targets in Deir Ezzor city and Abu Kamel in the Euphrates River valley area near the border with Iraq, but provided few details. Al Masdar, citing its sources, adds, however, that Israeli jets launched their missiles from the area of the Iraqi-Jordanian border, that Syrian forces were caught off-guard by the strikes and that the strikes caused tremendous damage. The Syrian army accused the Israelis of providing air support to ISIS, with which the army has had numerous clashes in the nearby desert area in recent weeks. The Syrian Observatory claimed 23 people were killed, 7 of them being Syrian Army personnel and the rest being Iranian-connected militia members. However, this had not been corroborated by any other reports.
A wire report published in the Times of Israel states that the targets struck are in an area with a major Iranian military presence that is believed to be used by Tehran to move weapons throughout the region. The Associated Press cited an unnamed senior U.S. intelligence official saying that the strikes were carried out with intelligence provided by the U.S.
