11 pro-Iran fighters killed by US airstrikes in Syria

Damascus, March 25 (IANS) US airstrikes on strongholds of pro-Iran militias in eastern Syria killed 11 fighters, a war monitor reported.The airstrikes hit an arms depot and other military outposts of the pro-Iran fighters in the province of Deir al-Zour, in retaliation to the pro-Iran militias' drone attacks on US positions in the same region, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor on Friday.Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the observatory, said the Iranian fighters had targeted US positions in the al-Omar oil field in Deir al-Zour overnight, adding that both sides exchanged fire, Xinhua news agency reported.Abdul-Rahman added he expected the US would carry out more attacks after recruiting agents on the ground to gather information about the locations and positions of the pro-Iran militias in eastern Syria.The Syrian government has not commented on the most recent escalation.The Pentagon said on Friday that a US contractor was killed, and five US service members and one other US contractor were wounded when a suspected Iranian drone struck a facility of the US coalition in northeast Syria.
--IANS int/khz/

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