An airstrike has killed more than 50 pro-regime fighters in eastern Syria, most of them foreigners, with the US-led coalition denying accusations from Damascus that it was behind the attack.
The strike just before midnight hit Al-Hari, a town controlled by regional militias fighting in the complex seven-year war on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the conflict, said 52 pro-regime forces were killed in one of the deadliest air attacks in recent months.
“Among them are at least 30 Iraqi fighters and 16 Syrians, including soldiers and members of loyalist militias,” the Observatory chief, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.
The nationalities of the remaining six fighters were not immediately known, he said. There are Iraqi, Iranian, lebanese and even Afghan fighters stationed in the area.