Syria: 71 dead after Israeli strikes on Palmyra

The death toll from Israeli strikes on Wednesday against pro-Iranian groups in the town of Palmyra, in central Syria, rose to 71, an NGO said on Thursday.

One of the strikes targeted a meeting of commanders of pro-Iranian groups with leaders of the Iraqi Al-Noujaba movement and Lebanese Hezbollah, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). The OSDH indicated that 45 Syrians, members of pro-Iranian groups, and 26 foreigners, mostly Iraqis from Al-Noujaba but also four members of Hezbollah, had been killed.

Three strikes targeted the modern city adjoining the Greco-Roman ruins, including an arms depot near the industrial zone, according to OSDH, an NGO based in the United Kingdom but which has a vast network of sources in Syria. Most of the victims died during the meeting of pro-Iranian groups, according to the same source.

These strikes “are the deadliest on pro-Iranian groups in Syria since the start of the war” in this country in 2011, OSDH director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP.