Syria missile strikes (January 2021) | |
---|---|
Part of the Iran–Israel conflict in the Syrian civil war | |
Location | |
Planned by | Israel |
Target | Liwa Fatemiyoun |
Date | 13 January 2021 22 January 2021 |
Executed by | Israeli Air Force |
Casualties | 57 on 13 January [1] 4 civilians on 22 January Total – 61 |
A series of airstrikes were carried out by the Israeli Air Force on multiple Iranian-linked targets in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate of Syria on 13 January 2021. [2] 57 people were killed according to Israeli reports. Iranian sources confirmed the strikes, but said that only Syrian Army positions were hit. Israel carried out another airstrike in Hama nine days later, killing a family of four, including two children, according to Syrian state media. [3]
According to the Syrian state news agency SANA Israeli aircraft carried out aerial assault at 1:10am on Deir ez-Zor city and the Al Bukamal region. The strikes were aimed at arms depots and military positions belonging to the Fatimid Brigade. [4] The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that over 18 strikes had struck the area. [5] The first reports mentioned a death toll of 23 killed and around 30 people injured. [6] [7] Later that day the death toll was adjusted to 57, including 14 Syrian regime forces, 16 Iraqi militias and 11 Iran-backed fighters. The Israeli strikes in both Deir ez-Zor city and Mayadin destroyed weapons warehouses and headquarters. While in Al Bukamal military positions and ammunition depots were targeted. [8]
With the risen death toll, these were the deadliest airstrikes conducted by the Israeli Air Force on eastern Syria since the start of the conflict. Observers have warned that Israel and the United States will increase attacks against Iran in the final days of the Trump administration, which gave unprecedented support to the government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. [9] US officials confirmed that the strikes were carried out with intelligence provided by the United States. According to one official, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the airstrikes two days earlier with Yossi Cohen, chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, in Washington, D.C. [10]
Israel carried out another airstrike in the country on 22 January 2021, near the city of Hama, killing a family of four, including two children. This marked the first time Israel carried out a military operation in Syria since the new US president Joe Biden took office. [11]
The SOHR reported on 15 January that the Iranian-backed factions started to redeploy in the cities of al-Mayadin and Abu Kamal, as well as along the Syria-Iraq border. According to observers in the region, the militias changed their positions and started to redeploy vehicles in different neighborhoods of Mayadin. [12]
Following the fear of new Israeli attacks on Iranian positions in Syria, dozens of pro-Iranian fighters left their militias to join the Fifth Corps established by Russia. [13]
Abu Kamal, also known as Al-Bukamal, is a city in eastern Syria located on the Euphrates river in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate and near the border with Iraq. It is the administrative centre of the Abu Kamal District and the local subdistrict. Just to the south-east is the Al-Qa'im border crossing to the town of Husaybah in the Al-Qa'im District of Iraq's Al Anbar Governorate.
The Deir ez-Zor offensive was executed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS, against all other opposition forces in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate as part of the Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War.
The Deir ez-Zor offensive was a military operation launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on the Deir ez-Zor air base and the surrounding areas.
The Deir ez-Zor offensive (2016) was an ISIL military operation, during which it took over the northern suburbs of Deir ez-Zor on 16 January 2016, and killed from 135 to 300 people, while also kidnapping about 400 others.
The September 2016 Deir ez-Zor air raid was a series of 37 U.S.-led Coalition airstrikes near the Deir ez-Zor Airport in eastern Syria on 17 September 2016, lasting from 3:55 p.m. to 4:56 p.m. Damascus time in which Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers were killed conducting operations against the Islamic State. Russia reported that at least 62 SAA soldiers were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said at least 80 were killed and 120 wounded. The United States said that the intended target was Islamic State militants and that the attack on Syrian soldiers was due to a misidentification of ground forces while the Syrian and Russian governments claimed that it was an intentional attack against Syrian troops. The attack triggered "a diplomatic firestorm" with Russia calling an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting. Later, the Syrian government called off a ceasefire that had been the result of months of intense diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and Russian governments.
The siege of Deir ez-Zor was a large-scale siege imposed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against several districts in the city of Deir ez-Zor held by the Syrian Army, in an attempt to capture the city and secure full control of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The ISIL siege of the city lasted for almost 3 years and 2 months, after which the Syrian Army launched a successful offensive that fully recaptured the city nine weeks later.
The Central Syria campaign, known as "Operation Khuzam", or "Lavender", was a large-scale military operation of the Syrian Army (SAA) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War. Its goal was to capture the strategic oil town of Al-Sukhnah, and besiege and capture 11,000 square kilometers of ISIL territory in central Syria, after which the Syrian Army would advance towards Deir ez-Zor, and lift the three-year ISIL siege of the government's enclave in the city. Afterwards, the Syrian Army advanced towards the Islamic State's then-capital of Mayadin.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from September to December 2017. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The 2017 Abu Kamal offensive, codenamed Operation Fajr-3, was a military offensive launched by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies against members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The aim of the offensive was to capture ISIL's last urban stronghold in Syria, the border town of Abu Kamal. This offensive was a part of the larger Eastern Syria campaign.
The Eastern Syria campaign of September–December 2017 was a large-scale military operation of the Syrian Army (SAA) and its allies against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War. Its goal was to clear the city of Deir ez-Zor of any remaining ISIL forces, capture ISIL's de facto capital of Mayadin, as well as seize the border town of Abu Kamal, which became one of ISIL's final urban strongholds by the latter stages of the campaign.
The Deir ez-Zor offensive (2018) was launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant against government-held areas throughout the Deir ez-Zor Governorate of Eastern Syria. During the offensive, on 8 June, ISIL managed to penetrate the city of Abu Kamal, capturing several parts of it.
The Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war refers to the Iranian–Israeli standoff in and around Syria during the Syrian conflict. With increasing Iranian involvement in Syria from 2011 onwards, the conflict shifted from a proxy war into a direct confrontation by early 2018.
The Syrian Desert campaign is a campaign waged by Syrian government forces and their allies, including Iran and Russia, against the remaining forces of the Islamic State (IS) in the Syrian Desert region.
On 28 June 2021, President Biden directed airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups close to the Syria-Iraq border. F-15E and F-16 aircraft were used to launch the attack in what the U.S. described as a retaliatory attack against U.S. facilities and personnel in Iraq by militia groups. Two operational and weapons storage facilities were targeted in Syria, the U.S. military revealed in a statement. Despite the U.S. not disclosing the information regarding the casualties in the attack, the SOHR stated that at least nine Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters died, leaving many others injured. Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2021. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2022. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found in Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2023. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found in Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
On March 23, 2023, at 1:38 p.m. local time (UTC+03:00), a kamikaze drone allegedly of Iranian origin struck a coalition base at Abu Hajar Airport near Rmelan, al-Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria. As a response, The US military carried out a series of attacks using F-15 Fighters at the direction of President Joe Biden. On 24 March 2023, two retaliatory strikes at near oil and gas fields known as Conoco in the vicinity of Deir Ezzor by multiple rockets and at Green Village by three drones targeted US and coalition forces.
Starting on 17 October 2023, and in response to United States support for Israel in the Israel–Hamas war, Iran-backed militias initiated a coordinated series of more than 170 attacks on U.S. military bases and assets in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. These attacks resulted in injuries to dozens of U.S. service members. In retaliation, the U.S. has launched multiple counterattacks, resulting in the death of over 30 militants including a senior commander of the Nujaba Movement, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi. In February 2024, following U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, militia attacks against U.S. forces were halted.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2024. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found in Casualties of the Syrian civil war.