Eight Syrian fighters affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were brutally killed in an attack involving knives on their position in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, according to a report from a war monitor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack occurred when “unidentified armed individuals” raided the fighters’ position in the Syrian desert, marking the second deadly assault on pro-Iran fighters in the Mayadeen area within two days.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Observatory which gathers information from a network of sources in Syria, stated that the eight deceased fighters “worked under the command” of Iran’s Guards and were “slaughtered” using knives.
Deir Ezzor province is divided between US-backed Kurdish-led forces to the east of the Euphrates river and Iran-backed Syrian government forces and their allies to the west. Additionally, the Islamic State (IS) group remains active in the region.
This recent attack follows another incident on Monday, where three Syrians, also affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, were killed in an attack on a military position on the outskirts of Mayadeen city.
Since the beginning of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Iran-backed groups have provided significant support to President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Thousands of pro-Iran proxy fighters are currently deployed in Deir Ezzor province, as reported by the Observatory.
Although the IS group was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, remnants of the group continue to carry out deadly attacks, particularly in the vast Badia desert stretching from the outskirts of Damascus to the Iraqi border.
The border area serves as a crucial segment of the route used by pro-Iran armed groups to transport fighters, weapons, and goods between Iraq and Syria.
