Seven militiamen killed in US strikes on Iraqi-Syrian border

Baghdad (dpa), 28 June, 2021 -  At least seven pro-Iranian Iraqi militiamen were killed in US airstrikes on the Iraqi-Syrian border, a Britain-based monitoring group said on Monday. 

The US Pentagon said on Sunday that US President Joe Biden had ordered the airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups in the border region.

The facilities were used by Iran-backed militias engaged in drone attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said.

Two locations in Syria and one in Iraq - both close to the border between the two countries - were targeted.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that in addition to those killed, others were injured, and they were mainly affiliated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as the Hashd al-Shaabi.

The strikes targeted posts in Syria’s eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province, the Observatory said. 
Hashd al-Shaabi sources told dpa that at least four fighters were killed.