An air raid in eastern Syria along the Iraqi border made brief headlines Nov. 9. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 14 people were killed in the strikes, mostly fighters. The attacks hit a convoy of "fuel tankers and trucks loaded with weapons" in Deir az-Zor province, the Observatory said. (Al Jazeera [15]) This set off immediate speculation that the raid was the latest in the small but growing handful of times [11] over the course of the 10-year Syrian war that the US has bombed forces allied with the Assad regime, generally targeting the Iran-backed paramilitary network [12] in the country. The Deir az-Zor strikes did immediately follow the slaying of a US aid worker in Iraq. (The National [16]) However, Israel has for years also carried out sporadic air-strikes [12] on similar targets in Syria, and has likewise come under suspicion in this attack. (ToI [17], Haaretz [18])
Getting far less media attention are ongoing air-strikes by Russia and the Assad regime on the remaining pocket of rebel control in Syria's northwest. Just three days before the Deir az-Zor attack, Russian or regime strikes near Idlib city [13] targeted a displaced persons camp, leaving at least seven noncombatants dead—and winning few international headlines.
Turkey, meanwhile, in addition to carrying out intermittent drone strikes [19] on the Kurdish autonomous zone [19] in northeast Syria, continues to maintain its own zone of control [20] in Syria's northwest—where it faces growing civil resistance [21] from the populace. Most recently, the Oct. 7 assassination of media activist Muhammad Abdul Latif (AKA Abu Ghannoum) by militiamen of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA [22]) set off protests in al-Bab [21], Aleppo province. (Syria Direct [23])
See map of Syrian provinces [24].
