Air strikes in Syria kill more than a dozen people, including IRGC advisor and WHO staff

A series of air strikes targeted the eastern province of Deir el-Zour in Syria on Tuesday morning, killing more than a dozen people, including an Iranian advisor and a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said the strikes killed 15 people. Of those killed included an advisor with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, two of his bodyguards, nine Iraqi fighters from a Tehran-backed group and two Syrians.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the strikes. However, Sana, Syria's state-run news outlet, reported that the US was behind the bombings.

The news outlet cited a military source, and added that seven military personnel were killed, and one civilian was also killed.

WHO said one of its team members, engineer Emad Shehab, was killed in one of the strikes. WHO said that Shehab worked on water, sanitation, and hygiene in the eastern province.