DAMASCUS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- One child was killed and three other civilians were wounded in an overnight U.S. strike in an area in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour bordering Iraq, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Monday.
At 1 a.m. local time on Monday (2200 GMT Sunday), the United States carried out a missile strike on "residential homes" in the area of al-Bukamal in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, inflicting property damage as well, SANA said.
The border region has been targeted several times by U.S. strikes, which are undermining the Syrian government's efforts to eliminate the remnants of Islamic State militants there, SANA said.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said that five Iraqi militiamen with Iraq's paramilitary Hashd al-Shaabi forces were killed by the strike that targeted their positions in the border region and inside Syria.
The U.S. Defense Department said Sunday that the U.S. military conducted "airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region."
"The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.
"The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq," the statement said.
The operation was U.S. President Joe Biden's second use of force in the region after he ordered airstrikes against Iran-backed militia targets in eastern Syria in February. Enditem
