An airstrike attributed to Israel left at least 61 dead and 50 injured on Wednesday in the town of Palmyra, in the heart of the Syrian desert, according to the Syrian Defense Ministry. Among the victims are ten Syrian army soldiers. The attack was allegedly carried out from the area of the American base of Al-Tanf, located at the crossroads of the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi borders. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an opposition organization based in London, puts forward even higher figures, reporting 99 victims in total, including 49 deaths. According to the OSDH, among the victims are “24 Syrians affiliated with pro-Iranian militias, 22 foreign nationals, mainly members of the pro-Iranian Iraqi Noujaba militia, and 3 unidentified people.”
The strike targeted three separate sites in the city of Palmyra. Two targets were in the Al-Jamiya neighborhood, including an arms depot near an industrial zone where families of pro-Iranian militants of Iraqi and foreign nationality reside. “The third site hosted a meeting between leaders of the pro-Iranian militias present in Palmyra, leaders of the Noujaba militia and a leader of Hezbollah,” specifies the OSDH.
“The strikes caused significant material damage to the targeted buildings and their surroundings,” the Syrian Defense Ministry said. According to initial reports, some of the affected buildings were near archaeological sites in Palmyra.
The incident began around 1 p.m. Several Syrian media outlets reported explosions in the town, located in the eastern rural region of Homs. Syrian radio Sham FM reported that several sites in the city and its surroundings were hit, while the official SANA news agency reported strikes against residential areas and the region's industrial zone.
