Coalition Aircraft Fly Over Iran-Backed Militias' ‘Capital’ in Eastern Syria

A Syrian army soldier stands on a damaged building in Deraa al Balaad, Syria, September 9, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar
A Syrian army soldier stands on a damaged building in Deraa al Balaad, Syria, September 9, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar
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Coalition Aircraft Fly Over Iran-Backed Militias' ‘Capital’ in Eastern Syria

A Syrian army soldier stands on a damaged building in Deraa al Balaad, Syria, September 9, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar
A Syrian army soldier stands on a damaged building in Deraa al Balaad, Syria, September 9, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar

International coalition aircraft flew over al-Mayadeen, described as the capital of Iran-backed militias, in eastern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday increased air traffic, especially drones, over Mayadeen, al-Ashara town, and Buqrus village in Der Ezzor’s countryside.

Meanwhile, reports stated that four missiles launched from a military site belonging to the Iranian militias near the industrial secondary school in Mayadeen targeted a base of the international coalition within the al-Omar field.

The Observatory added that the Iranian militias mobilized their forces, and four-wheel drive vehicles loaded with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft weaponry arrived at a military center at the paper mill in Husseiniya, north of Deir Ezzor.

Meanwhile, the US Central Command (Centcom) announced that missiles targeted the international coalition forces in one of its bases in northeastern Syria without causing casualties.

The statement read: "At approximately 9:32 pm local time in Syria, rockets targeted Coalition Forces at the Green Village base in northeast Syria. The attack resulted in no injuries or damage to the base or coalition property."

Centcom indicated that the US forces in northeast Syria are investigating the incident.

Agence France Presse noted that the US leadership did not accuse any party but made it clear that the US forces deployed in the region were investigating the incident.

"Attacks of this kind place coalition forces and the civilian populace at risk and undermine the hard-earned stability and security of Syria and the region," said Joe Buccino, Centcom spokesman.

The area of eastern Syria is an essential route for the Iraqi battalions, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and other pro-Iranian groups. According to AFP, it is used to transfer weapons, fighters, and various goods between Iraq and Syria.

Earlier in November, a convoy of fuel tanks and weapons belonging to Iran-backed fighters was subjected to airstrikes after crossing from Iraq into eastern Syria, killing 14 people, according to the Syrian Observatory.

The coalition denied that any of its forces, including Americans, were responsible for carrying out the raid.

Over the years, trucks carrying weapons and ammunition, warehouses, and military sites of the pro-Tehran groups have been subjected to airstrikes, especially between al-Mayadeen and al-Bukamal.

About 900 American soldiers are still deployed in northeastern Syria and at the al-Tanf base near the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border triangle.

Meanwhile, a Syrian checkpoint intercepted a US military convoy that tried to enter the al-Damkhiya in Qamishli.

Meanwhile, the official Syrian News Agency (SANA) quoted local sources as saying that five US military vehicles tried to enter al-Damkhiya village in Qamishli's countryside.

Members of an army checkpoint intercepted and expelled it outside the area, local sources told SANA on Friday.



Suspected US Strikes Overnight in Yemen Kill at Least 3 People

A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
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Suspected US Strikes Overnight in Yemen Kill at Least 3 People

A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen overnight into Thursday killed at least three people, while the death toll in an earlier attack rose to 13 dead, the Iran-backed Houthi group said. The group meanwhile aired footage they said showed the debris left after shooting down yet another American MQ-9 Reaper drone.
The 13 killed in strikes Tuesday night around Hodeida's al-Hawak district made it one of the deadliest single incidents in the ongoing American campaign, the Houthis said. Another 15 people were wounded. The group described the majority of those killed as women and children, without providing a breakdown.
The area is home to the city's airport, which the Houthis have used in the past to target shipping in the Red Sea.
Since its start, the intense campaign of US airstrikes targeting the group over the attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed over 100 people, according to casualty figures released Wednesday by the Houthis.
Footage aired by the group’s al-Masirah satellite news channel showed chaotic scenes of people carrying wounded to waiting ambulances and rescuers searching by the light of their mobile phones. The target appeared in the footage to be a home in a residential neighborhood, likely part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill Houthi leaders.
Early Thursday morning, the Houthis said airstrikes targeting the al-Sabeen District in the south of the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, killed at least three people. The area is home to al-Sabeen Square and a major mosque that has been a gathering point for months for Houthi demonstrations against the war in the Gaza Strip. Other strikes hit the capital as well.
More airstrikes hit Kamaran Island in the Red Sea, the Houthis said.
The US military's Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not acknowledge the strikes. That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorization from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began March 15.
The American military also hasn't been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that America was “not going to relent” in its campaign targeting the Houthis.
Oil shipments targeted as US drone reportedly shot down

On Wednesday, the State Department said the US “will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis, including offloading ships and provisioning oil at Houthi-controlled ports.” That likely will further squeeze the group, who already have had problems in their territory with bad gasoline destroying vehicle engines.
The Houthis also aired footage of the burning wreckage of what they described as an MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down in Yemen's al-Jawaf governorate. One man poked at the debris with a stick as those gathered chanted the Houthis' slogan: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
Central Command said it was aware of the report of the shoot down, but declined to answer further.
The Houthis say they shoot down the drones with locally made missiles. The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft.
Iran denies arming the Houthis, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi group despite a United Nations arms embargo.