Syria: 16 Pro-Iran Fighters Killed in Presumed Israeli Strikes

Reuters file photo of an F-16 fighter jet
Reuters file photo of an F-16 fighter jet
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Syria: 16 Pro-Iran Fighters Killed in Presumed Israeli Strikes

Reuters file photo of an F-16 fighter jet
Reuters file photo of an F-16 fighter jet

Presumed Israeli airstrikes on eastern Syria killed 16 Iran-backed fighters Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, hours after Damascus said it intercepted Israeli missiles fired at a central airbase.

Those killed were "Iraqi paramilitary fighters loyal to Iran, seven of whom were killed outside the city of Mayadeen," Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Observatory, said.

The other nine were killed in strikes south of the city of Albu Kamal, on the Iraqi border further east.

Abdul Rahman said Israel was "likely" responsible for the attack, which if confirmed, would mark the second such strike in less than 24 hours and the third this week.

Late Wednesday, Syrian air defenses intercepted missiles fired by an Israeli warplane at the T4 air base in central Syria, regime media reported.

"Our air defenses intercepted most of them," it said, adding the attack caused only material damage.

On Monday, Israeli strikes killed one civilian, three government troops and seven allied foreign fighters, the Observatory said.

Monday's strikes hit Syrian army positions south of Damascus and facilities used by Iran-backed paramilitaries, including fighters of Lebanon's Hezbollah, in the southern province of Daraa, the Observatory said.



Trump Call with Putin Expected Soon, Trump Adviser Says

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks on the phone with 9th-grader Arina Porkhal from Gorlovka, Donetsk region, a participant in the charity event "Yolka Zhelaniy" ("Christmas Tree Wish"), fulfilling children's Christmas wishes, in Moscow on January 7, 2025. (AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks on the phone with 9th-grader Arina Porkhal from Gorlovka, Donetsk region, a participant in the charity event "Yolka Zhelaniy" ("Christmas Tree Wish"), fulfilling children's Christmas wishes, in Moscow on January 7, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Call with Putin Expected Soon, Trump Adviser Says

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks on the phone with 9th-grader Arina Porkhal from Gorlovka, Donetsk region, a participant in the charity event "Yolka Zhelaniy" ("Christmas Tree Wish"), fulfilling children's Christmas wishes, in Moscow on January 7, 2025. (AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin talks on the phone with 9th-grader Arina Porkhal from Gorlovka, Donetsk region, a participant in the charity event "Yolka Zhelaniy" ("Christmas Tree Wish"), fulfilling children's Christmas wishes, in Moscow on January 7, 2025. (AFP)

US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to have a call in the coming days or weeks, and it is unrealistic to aim to expel Russian soldiers from every inch of Ukrainian territory, a top Trump adviser said.

Trump, who will return as US president on Jan. 20, styles himself as a master dealmaker and has vowed to swiftly end the war in Ukraine but not set out how he might achieve that.

US Congressman Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser, told ABC on Sunday that the war had become a World War One-style "meat grinder of people and resources" with "World War Three consequences", according to ABC.

"Everybody knows that this has to end somehow diplomatically," Waltz, a Trump loyalist who also served in the National Guard as a colonel, told ABC.

"I just don't think it's realistic to say we're going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea. President Trump has acknowledged that reality, and I think it’s been a huge step forward that the entire world is acknowledging that reality. Now let's move forward."

Asked specifically about contacts between Trump and Putin, Waltz said: "I do expect a call for, at least in the coming days and weeks. So, that would be a step and we'll take it from there."

Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands dead, displaced millions of people and triggered the biggest rupture in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

US officials cast Russia as a corrupt autocracy that is the biggest nation-state threat to the United States and has meddled in US elections, jailed US citizens on false charges and perpetrated sabotage campaigns against US allies.

Russian officials say the US is a declining power that has repeatedly ignored Russia's interests since the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union, and that sowing discord inside Russia is an attempt to divide Russian society and further US interests.