Iranian-backed forces massing around Deir Ezzor city.
Late on December 14, a series of explosions rocked the government-held town of al-Mayadin in eastern Syria. according to several Syrian news sources.
The town, which is located on the western bank of the Euphrates River in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside, is known to be a stronghold of several armed factions backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the explosions were the result of strikes that targeted several positions of Iranian-backed factions in al-Myadin’s sheep market, Ain Ali shrine and the area of al-Haydariyeh. According to the London-based monitoring group, fighter jets of the United States-led coalition were flying over the western bank of the Euphrates when the strikes occurred.
From it side, the Syrian Arab News Agency didn’t report any strikes on al-Mayadin. The state-run news agency usually acknowledges any attack by the U.S. or Israel on Syrian territory within a few hours.
The mysterious explosions in al-Mayadin came just a few hours after the Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi indirectly claimed responsibility for the November 8 strikes that targeted an alleged Iranian weapons shipment at the Syrian part of al-Qa’im crossing on the border with Iraq. Al-Mayadin is located just 85 kilometers to the northeast of the key crossing.
Earlier this weeks, specifically on December 11, three Israeli strikes hit a key radar base in southern Syria. The attack was likely meant to weaken the air defense and early warning network in the country’s southern, central and eastern regions, possibly in preparation for a wide-scale strikes.
Syria could experience a new round of escalation if the explosions in al-Mayadin were indeed the result of a new attack by the U.S. or Israel.
