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News ID: 54120
Publish Date : 18 June 2018 - 22:03
Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi Fighters Targeted:

U.S. Expands War on Regional Liberators

BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- An Iraqi paramilitary force Monday accused the United States of killing 22 of its fighters in an overnight air raid just inside Syria's border with Iraq that a monitor said left dozens dead.
"U.S. planes fired two guided missiles at a fixed position of Hashd al-Sha’abi units on the border with Syria, killing 22 fighters and wounding 12," said the group.
It said the raid took place "700 meters inside Syria".
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that more than 50 fighters allied to the Damascus government, most of them foreign, were killed in Sunday night's raid on Al-Hari in eastern Syria.
Syrian state media, citing a military source, accused the U.S. of having carried out the raid. Several people were killed and wounded, state media said, without giving precise figures.
The U.S. military’s press office in the region said it had heard reports that a strike in the area of Al-Hari had killed and wounded members of an group, but denied it was responsible.
The attack took place near Tanf which is located in a zone, where Syria, Iraq and Jordan’s borders meet, and is of paramount strategic importance, where the United States has set up a military base.
On Friday, the State Department threatened the Syrian government with "firm and appropriate measures" in response to alleged violations in a de-escalation zone in the country's southwest.
It also noted that "the ceasefire must continue to be enforced and respected" in the Syrian areas bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Russia has accused the US of attempting to hamper a full Syrian victory against Daesh. It has released "evidence" purportedly showing U.S. forces deployed in Dayr al-Zawr border regions and in Jordan provide Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorists with intelligence about Syrian and Russian forces.
In a recent interview, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the U.S. "is losing its cards” as the militant groups it supports have lost significant ground following the liberation of Aleppo, Dayr la-Zawr, Homs, and Damascus suburbs.
"The main card was al-Nusra that was called ‘moderate.’ But when the scandal started leaking, that they are not moderate, they are al-Qaeda ..., they (the Americans) looked for another card. This card is the SDF now,” he said.