Iraq says US strike killed 20 in east Syria

BEIRUT: An Iraqi paramilitary force key to the battle against the Islamic State group on Monday accused the US-led coalition of killing more than 20 of its fighters in an air raid in eastern Syria.

The bombing raid hit Al-Hari, a town controlled by regional militias fighting in Syria’s complex seven-year war alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Both Syrian authorities and Iraqi forces pointed the finger at the US-led coalition, which denied it was involved in Sunday night’s attack. The raid slammed into a regime-controlled position in the border town and left at least 52 fighters dead, according to a Britain-based monitor.

Among them were fighters from Iraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi military alliance, some of whom have crossed into Syria to fight against IS. “US planes fired two guided missiles at a fixed position of Hashed al-Shaabi units on the border with Syria, killing 22 fighters and wounding 12,” the Iran-backed Hashed said.

The bodies of three Iraqi fighters killed in the raid were returned on Monday to their hometowns for burial, said AFP’s correspondent in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a total of 30 Iraqi forces were among the dead in Al-Hari, as well as 16 Syrian forces and six unidentified fighters.

The attack was first reported overnight by Syrian state media, which cited a military source accusing the coalition of bombing one of its positions in Al-Hari. It said several people were killed and wounded but did not give a specific number or their nationalities.Later on Monday, a military source in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province where the targeted area lies told AFP that coalition warplanes hit “joint Iraqi-Syrian positions in Al-Hari”.