Israel hit eastern Syria with a barrage of airstrikes early Wednesday according to a report from Aljazeera.com. SANA, a state run news agency in Syria reported “at least 18 strikes hit areas in and near the towns of Deir el-Zour, Mayadeen and Boukamal along the border with Iraq.” Omar Abu Laila, a Europe-based activist from Syria’s Deir el-Zour province said “They burnt Iranian positions in Deir el-Zour.”
The Israeli airstrikes killed at least 40 people and wounded 37, including Syrian troops and Iran-backed fighters according to Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The airstrikes were carried out with intelligence provided by the United States, a senior U.S. intelligence official confirmed to The Associated Press. The U.S. military said Israel was apparently targeting positions and arms depots of Iran-backed forces. According to the military, the airstrikes targeted warehouses serving as pipelines for Iran’s nuclear program.
The Trump administration has heightened tensions with Iran, sending U.S. military aircraft, its warship and submarine carriers into the region in the final days of the Trump presidency. On Monday U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Yossi Cohen, chief of Israel’s spy agency Mossad to discuss the airstrike according to Aljazeera.com. Their public meeting was held at Café Milano in Washington according to a senior U.S. miltary official who provided information under anonymity.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned President Trump about initiating a conflict with Iran thru Israel. The Minister said “If the trigger of war in the Middle East is pulled by you using your surrogates at the insistence of Israel, then the war will trigger another kind of war which will bring China, Russia, all the nations into a war” His message “The Unraveling of a Great Nation” warned us of the US involvement in Iran. “You know America is going to go to war” said The Honorable Minister Farrakhan.
