BEIRUT: A Syria war monitor said on Friday that Israeli strikes on the city of Palmyra this week killed 92 pro-Iran fighters, after a United Nations representative said they were likely the deadliest to date.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday’s attack targeted three sites in Palmyra, with one hitting a meeting of pro-Iranian groups that also involved commanders from Iraq’s Al-Nujaba group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The toll has risen to “92 dead: 61 Syrian pro-Iran fighters,” 11 of them working for Hezbollah, “and 27 foreign nationals mostly from Al-Nujaba, plus four from Hezbollah,” the Observatory said.
The Britain-based war monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, had previously reported 82 dead, while the Syria defense ministry on Wednesday said 36 people were killed.
The UN deputy special envoy to Syria, Najat Rochdi, told the Security Council on Thursday that the raid was “likely the deadliest Israeli strike in Syria to date.”
The Observatory said the strikes also targeted “a weapons depot near the industrial area” in Palmyra, a modern city adjacent to globally renowned Greco-Roman ruins.
Since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting the army and Iran-backed groups.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.
The Israeli military has intensified its strikes on targets in Syria since almost a year of hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon escalated into full-scale war in late September.
![]()
Monitor raises toll in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra to 92
Short Url
https://arab.news/peshk
Monitor raises toll in Israel strikes on Syria’s Palmyra to 92
- Wednesday’s Israeli attack targeted three sites in Palmyra, with one hitting a meeting of pro-Iranian groups
- Since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country
UN delivers vital aid to Sudan’s Kordofan: WFP
- Life-saving aid from several UN agencies reaches 130,000 people in Dilling and Kadugli
- The famine-hit South Kordofan state capital Kadugli had endured a punishing RSF siege
CAIRO: A convoy of life-saving aid from several UN agencies has reached two cut-off cities in Sudan’s Kordofan region, currently the fiercest frontline in the nearly three-year war.
“This marks the first major delivery of assistance to the area in three months,” the World Food Programme said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said 26 trucks had delivered essential supplies including medicine and food for more than 130,000 people in Dilling and Kadugli.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a bitter struggle for control of the country.
The famine-hit South Kordofan state capital Kadugli had endured a punishing RSF siege for much of the conflict, before the army broke the blockade this month.
Nearby Dilling, where the army also recently broke an RSF siege, is believed to be experiencing similar famine conditions.
The cities had come to exemplify the violence in Kordofan, where hundreds of thousands face starvation under daily drone strikes.
Dilling lies halfway between Kadugli and North Kordofan capital, El-Obeid.
Violent clashes and ongoing insecurity along the main route linking the three cities had “forced the convoy to halt for more than 40 days,” the WFP said.
The trucks reached Dilling by taking “a longer and more difficult off-road passage,” it added.
“Routes must stay open and predictable so vital assistance can reach people without interruption, including communities that have been cut off for far too long,” said Makena Walker, acting country director for WFP in Sudan.
Since seizing El-Fasher — the army’s last stronghold in western Darfur — last October, the RSF have pushed eastward into oil-rich Kordofan.
The vast agricultural region lies between RSF-controlled Darfur in the west and army-held areas in the north, east and center.
The nearly three-year war has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the UN calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
With truce talks deadlocked for months, the UN has repeatedly urged warring parties to respect international humanitarian law and allow access for aid.
“This marks the first major delivery of assistance to the area in three months,” the World Food Programme said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said 26 trucks had delivered essential supplies including medicine and food for more than 130,000 people in Dilling and Kadugli.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a bitter struggle for control of the country.
The famine-hit South Kordofan state capital Kadugli had endured a punishing RSF siege for much of the conflict, before the army broke the blockade this month.
Nearby Dilling, where the army also recently broke an RSF siege, is believed to be experiencing similar famine conditions.
The cities had come to exemplify the violence in Kordofan, where hundreds of thousands face starvation under daily drone strikes.
Dilling lies halfway between Kadugli and North Kordofan capital, El-Obeid.
Violent clashes and ongoing insecurity along the main route linking the three cities had “forced the convoy to halt for more than 40 days,” the WFP said.
The trucks reached Dilling by taking “a longer and more difficult off-road passage,” it added.
“Routes must stay open and predictable so vital assistance can reach people without interruption, including communities that have been cut off for far too long,” said Makena Walker, acting country director for WFP in Sudan.
Since seizing El-Fasher — the army’s last stronghold in western Darfur — last October, the RSF have pushed eastward into oil-rich Kordofan.
The vast agricultural region lies between RSF-controlled Darfur in the west and army-held areas in the north, east and center.
The nearly three-year war has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the UN calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
With truce talks deadlocked for months, the UN has repeatedly urged warring parties to respect international humanitarian law and allow access for aid.
Latest updates
Recommended
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.