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.



France Expels Algerian Diplomats in Tit-for-tat Decision

This photograph shows the national flag of Algeria flying at the Algerian Embassy in Paris on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Kiran RIDLEY / AFP)
This photograph shows the national flag of Algeria flying at the Algerian Embassy in Paris on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Kiran RIDLEY / AFP)
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France Expels Algerian Diplomats in Tit-for-tat Decision

This photograph shows the national flag of Algeria flying at the Algerian Embassy in Paris on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Kiran RIDLEY / AFP)
This photograph shows the national flag of Algeria flying at the Algerian Embassy in Paris on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Kiran RIDLEY / AFP)

France said Wednesday it will expel Algerian diplomats in response to Algeria’s decision to do the same.

The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a statement it had summoned Algerian officials to inform them of the decision, describing it as “strict reciprocity” after 15 French officials were expelled from Algiers on Sunday.

France called on Algerian authorities to “demonstrate responsibility and to return to a demanding and constructive dialogue that had been initiated by our authorities, in the interest of both countries.”

“The Algerians wanted to send back our agents; we are sending theirs back,” French Foreign Minister Noël Barrot said on Wednesday, speaking to French broadcaster BFMTV.

Algeria said it expelled French officials on Sunday because France had broken procedures, including in how it assigned new diplomats to replace a different set that were expelled last month.

Despite economic ties and security cooperation, France and Algeria for decades have clashed over issues ranging from immigration to the painful legacy of French colonialism.

Wednesday’s decision came as Kabyle opposition figure Aksel Bellabbaci walked free after a Paris appeals court shunned Algeria’s request to extradite him on terrorism charges.

The 42-year-old vice president of the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabyle (MAK) has lived in France since 2012.