Beirut - At least 40 troops allied with the Syrian government
were killed overnight when airstrikes hit the country's eastern
border with Iraq, a monitor said Monday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the
airstrikes hit the town of al-Hari on the Syrian border with Iraq.
The watchdog could not immediately identify who carried out the
strikes.
Syrian state-run news agency SANA, citing a military source, accused
the US-led coalition of carrying out the strikes against one of its
positions in the town of al-Hari, south-east of al-Bou Kamal in
eastern Syria.
A number of "martyrs were killed and others were wounded,"
SANA reported.
The observatory said the slain forces could be Iraqi or Lebanese
nationals.
The pro-Iranian Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah has been fighting
in Syria alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces since
the uprising started in 2011.