Eight Members of Pro-Iran Militia Killed in Syria’s Mayadeen

A staff member sets up the Iranian flag atop a new consular annex to Iran's embassy in Damascus on its inauguration day on April 8, 2024. (AFP)
A staff member sets up the Iranian flag atop a new consular annex to Iran's embassy in Damascus on its inauguration day on April 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Eight Members of Pro-Iran Militia Killed in Syria’s Mayadeen

A staff member sets up the Iranian flag atop a new consular annex to Iran's embassy in Damascus on its inauguration day on April 8, 2024. (AFP)
A staff member sets up the Iranian flag atop a new consular annex to Iran's embassy in Damascus on its inauguration day on April 8, 2024. (AFP)

Eight members of a pro-Iran militia were killed by unknown assailants in Syria’s al-Mayadeen city in the Deir Ezzor region.

The assailants attacked the headquarters of the “Syrian Revolutionary Guards” militia that is affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, butchering their victims with knives.

Security and military forces in the region went on high alert in wake of the attack, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

This was the second attack of its kind in less than 48 hours in Deir Ezzor, the so-called “capital of Iranian militias in Syria.”

Earlier, three Syrian members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed by unknown gunmen in an attack on their military position on the outskirts al-Mayadeen.

Naher Media said the victims were killed by ISIS.

A man in his 50s was killed by a stray bullet fired by mourners during the funeral of the three victims, who hail from the predominantly Shiite town of Hatla.

The town is one of seven located east of the Euphrates River in Deir Ezzor where extremists have thrived.

In 2013, a massacre was committed in the area against mostly Shiite gunmen. Around 60 people were killed.



UN Official Says Israel Strikes Lebanon-Syria Border Crossing

 People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)
People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Official Says Israel Strikes Lebanon-Syria Border Crossing

 People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)
People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said an Israeli air strike hit "humanitarian structures" Saturday at a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria that was previously hit last month.

The crossing, known as Jousieh on the Syrian side, became a key escape route for those fleeing the Israel-Hezbollah war after the main border crossing between the two countries was hit.

But it was put out of service late last month when an Israeli strike created a large crater that blocked vehicle traffic.

"A new Israeli air strike hit the border post of Jousieh, where many Lebanese and Syrians cross from Lebanon to Syria," Grandi said on social media platform X.

"Humanitarian structures were also struck," he said, adding that "even fleeing and taking care of those who flee are becoming difficult and dangerous as the war continues to spread."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said two Israeli strikes hit the Jousieh crossing on Saturday.

The raid came after the main crossing between Beirut and Damascus, known as Masnaa on the Lebanese side, was forced to close by an Israel strike on October 4.

There are six official crossings between Lebanon and Syria, although there are many unofficial routes across the porous border.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of transporting weapons to Lebanon from Syria through the crossings.