The US retaliatory bombings this morning against pro-Iranian militia positions in Syria and Iraq have caused almost 40 deaths in both countries, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Iraqi Government.

At least 23 people were killed in US bombings in eastern Syria, including nine “Syrian fighters”, according to the Observatory, a UK-based NGO with a wide network of collaborators on the ground.

So far the official death toll in Syria has not been released, although the country’s Ministry of Defense said that the bombings caused “the death of a number of civilians and soldiers” and “significant damage to public and private property.” Unspecified.

For its part, the Iraqi Government denounced that at least 16 people, including civilians, have died in the west of the country as a result of these first air strikes by Washington in retaliation for the death of three of its soldiers in Jordan, which it attributes to pro-Iran militias in Iraq.

Washington announced this morning bombings of more than 85 targets and facilities linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria and Iraq, “the beginning” of its response to the attack against its troops in Jordan and which has been classified by both countries as a violation of their sovereignty.

In Syria, the airstrikes were concentrated in the Al Mayadin area, considered the ‘Iranian capital’ in the country, as well as in Deir al Zur and the Al Bukamal district, bordering Iraq and an important supply route for the militias. pro-Iranian allies of the Syrian Government.

In total, the bombings spread over a strip of about 130 kilometers and caused the destruction of 27 “important” targets belonging to groups supported by Tehran, according to the Observatory.

In Iraq, the bombings targeted positions of the pro-government militia group Popular Multitude, de facto integrated into the Iraqi Armed Forces, in the areas of Al Qaim and Akashat, close to the border with Syria.

The attack on US forces in Jordan was claimed by the amalgamation of pro-Iran militias Islamic Resistance in Iraq, some of which are also part of the Popular Multitude, while Washington accuses Iran of being behind the action.