A view of the ruins of Palmyra in Syria (Ctedi: Joseph Eid/AFP)
On Wednesday, Nov. 20, the Israeli army carried out several strikes on the city of Palmyra, in central Syria, against pro-Iranian groups, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Since then, the provisional death toll has continued to rise, reaching 82 on Thursday evening, with dozens of others injured. This attack is “Israel's deadliest on pro-Iranian groups” since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, according to SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Since the escalation of the war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon on Sept. 23, Israel has intensified its strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and on Syrian territory, where Hezbollah supports the Assad regime, targeting both the Syrian army and Iranian-backed groups.
Three targeted sites
Israel carried out several airstrikes in three different parts of Palmyra. One of the strikes targeted the site where a meeting of pro-Iranian group commanders, based in the town and in the surrounding desert, was taking place. The meeting was attended by commanders of the Iran-backed Iraqi movement Al-Nujaba and by Hezbollah leaders, according to the SOHR. Two other sites were also targeted, including a weapons depot near an industrial zone, as well as Palmyra's military airport, where families of pro-Iranian, Iraqi and foreign fighters lived.
According to the UK-based observatory, the fatalities are distributed as follows: 53 pro-Iranian militiamen of Syrian nationality, including 8 Hezbollah members, and 22 foreign militiamen, including 4 Hezbollah members. The rest of the victims were part of the Iraqi group Al-Nujaba, which is ideologically close to Hezbollah and militarily supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force. Most of the victims were killed in the first strike, which targeted the commanders’ meeting.
Hezbollah’s withdrawal
Since Sept. 23, Hezbollah has been withdrawing its fighters from certain parts of Syria in order to fortify its positions near the Syrian-Lebanese border, reported the online daily The Syrian Observer, citing German news agency Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA). As for the SOHR, it told the newspaper that Hezbollah had “evacuated its headquarters in Palmyra” and withdrawn from surrounding areas. The group handed over its headquarters to members of the Afghan Fatemiyoun brigade, which has been fighting alongside the Syrian regime since 2014. Other militias have reportedly regained control of several weapons depots in the region, the organization said.
The SOHR claimed that as a result of Hezbollah's gradual withdrawal from Palmyra and its surroundings, Iranian-backed militias are flocking to the ancient Greco-Roman city and its surrounding desert to replace the Hezbollah fighters who have left the country. Since the beginning of 2024, the SOHR has documented 152 Israeli strikes on Syrian territory, targeting weapons and ammunitions depots, as well as headquarters and vehicles. The Israeli army rarely claims responsibility for such strikes.
