The Iranian media outlets said on Sunday that 21 Shiite fighters have been killed in Turkish drone strikes last Friday.
The death toll included 18 fighters with the Pakistani Zainabiyoun Brigade and three with the Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade, key pro-Iran militia operating in eastern Syria.
Also, Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group lost at least eight fighters in northwest Syria in skirmishes with insurgents and
airstrikes by Turkey's air force, an opposition war monitor and the militant group said Saturday.
The casualties followed the death of at least 33 Turkish soldiers earlier this week.
Lebanese sources said the Head of General Security M. Gen Abbas Ibrahim is on visit to Turkey, seeking to safeguard Hezbollah fighters from aerial attacks and the imminent ground clashes.
Activists have recalled Hezbollah revenge acts out the borders and urged Turkey to keep on alert to avoid such attacks.
The deaths marked the highest for the group in Syria in years as Hezbollah has pulled out many of its fighters from the neighboring country.
Hezbollah sent thousands of its battle-hardened fighters into Syria a year after the country's conflict began in 2011, helping President Bashar Assad's forces win major battles against insurgents. But over the past two years, Hezbollah has withdrawn many of its forces, leaving only a few hundred of them in several areas around the war-torn country.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 Hezbollah fighters were killed Friday afternoon in the village of Talhiyeh when Turkish drones attacked their post as well as others of the Syrian army. The Observatory said 48 Syrian soldiers have also been killed since Thursday in Turkish bombardments and drone attacks in the region.
The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said the 14 Hezbollah fighters included 10 Lebanese citizens and four of other nationalities, including at least one Iranian.
Hezbollah later released a statement listing the names and photos of eight of its fighters, including an Iranian cleric identified as Sayyed Ali Zengani. It gave no details other than saying that they “were martyred while performing their jihadi duties.”
More than a thousand Hezbollah fighters, including several founding members, have been killed in Syria.
Zaman Al Wasl with Agencies
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