The immediate aftermath of a US airstrike on Syria. File photo.
US airstrikes on the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor killed seven soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army and a military advisor of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that US warplanes carried out 10 simultaneous strikes on residential neighborhoods and military installations in the province, including the cities of Deir Ezzor, Mayadin, and Bukamal, on Tuesday, March 26.
The overnight airstrikes also injured 19 soldiers and 13 civilians, and caused material damage to public and private property.
IRGC advisor Behrouz Vahedi was martyred when US airstrikes targeted a residential neighborhood in Deir Ezzor province in the early hours of Tuesday.
Iran maintains an advisory mission in Syria at the request of the Syrian government to help the war-torn country defeat the foreign-backed terrorists who have been fighting the democratically-elected government since 2011.
Israel and the United States frequently target military positions inside Syria, especially those of resistance fighters, who have played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.
These attacks on Syria’s civilian and military infrastructure have grown in intensity since Israel ignited its bloody war machine in the besieged Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
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Syria condemns US aggression
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs denounced the United States for the fatal airstrikes and said that Damascus holds Washington accountable for the brutal aggression on Syrian territory.
“Syria condemns this aggression and affirms its right to self-defense and hold the aggressor accountable by the means stipulated by international law. It cannot overlook those who attack its lands and commit crimes against its people,” the statement reads.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the massacres committed by US and Israeli forces in the region would only add to tensions and keep the region “explosive and flammable.”
The statement added that the United States must end its illegal presence in Syrian territory as well as its open support for Daesh and other terrorist organizations that the US government finances and supports.
Damascus calls on all those countries who seek to maintain sovereignty, freedom and independence to condemn Tuesday’s act of aggression, the statement said.
The Syrian government also urged collective efforts toward ending the illegal presence of the United States in Syria and its “terrorist military operations in the region.”
There are roughly 2,500 US troops in Iraq and some 900 in Syria as part of what Washington claims to be a fighting force against Daesh. The US continues to maintain its presence despite the fact that Syria and its allies defeated the Takfiri terrorist group in late 2017.
The US military keeps stationed its forces and equipment in north-east Syria, under the pretext of preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
But Damascus maintains that the deployment is meant to plunder Syria’s resources. This was even admitted by former US President Donald Trump, who said that the United States is in Syria “for the oil.”
(PressTV) with Orinoco Tribune content
