A source who spoke with Deir Ezzor 24 said strong blasts were heard in the area of Al Bukamal, where Iran-backed Shiite militias are based. According to the source, the explosions were apparently caused by missile impacts.

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Other websites affiliated with Syrian opposition groups also reported airstrikes in the Al Bukamal area.

Also Monday night, meanwhile, news outlets in the war-torn country reported that a bus carrying Syrian soldiers came under machine-gun fire in eastern Deir ez-Zor. According to initial assessments, the attack was carried out by Islamic State fighters. Several Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed in the attack.

On Saturday evening, too, Arab media outlets reported a series of mysterious airstrikes in northeastern Syria, also near Al Bukamal, on multiple facilities belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Shiite militias.

According to Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen TV, based in Beirut, several bases were hit in the attack, which was carried out by unidentified warplanes. Other outlets reported that several Iranian nationals were wounded in airstrikes on the Imam Ali base, Iran's flagship project in Syria.

The Imam Ali base, and the designated border crossing adjacent to it, facilitates the transfer of weapons on land from Tehran through Iraq and Syria to Beirut, relieving Iran of the need for air bases that could be neutralized in a broad Israeli airstrike. The base is slated to house a large and well-armed military force, perhaps even armed with long-range missiles.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a civilian watchdog group, reported that aerial drones carried out several attacks on facilities used by the pro-Iranian militias in the area. Five militiamen were killed in the attack, the Observatory said.

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Eye-witnesses, meanwhile, told the Observatory that the drones struck a facility belonging to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

It was not the first time that Iranian targets have been targeted in the Al Bukamal area, where Iran is building its sprawling Imam Ali base – the flagship project of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Middle East.

Located between Al Bukamal in Syria and the Iraqi border town Al-Qa'im, the Imam Ali base is part of a project by the IRGC known as the "green belt," whose purpose is to facilitate the transfer of militia fighters and weapons from Iran to southern Syria and Lebanon, via Iraq and Syria.

On Monday, the Observatory said an alleged Israeli missile strike overnight Sunday near the Syrian capital Damascus killed at least three foreigners, most likely Iranians.

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A series of satellite images included in the report show that intensive work is ongoing, both on the base itself and on the other side of the Syria-Iraq border, near which the base is located.

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The report shows a long line of military fortifications and outposts under construction, as well as access roads and storage facilities for weapons and vehicles. The satellite pictures also show a large number of vehicles and construction equipment on the site, evidence of the effort being invested to rebuild the site after the strike.

In addition to the new construction, the ImageSat picture show construction teams near storage facilities targeted in other recent strikes, who are apparently working to repair them for future use by the Shiite militias.

The Imam Ali base, located between Al Bukamal in Syria and the Iraqi border down Al-Qa'im are part of a project by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps known as the "green belt," whose purpose is to facilitate the transfer of militia fighters and weapons from Iran to southern Syria and Lebanon, via Iraq and Syria. The base was first attacked some two weeks ago in an airstrike that caused heavy damage to six weapons storehouses, some of which are believed to have been fully stocked.

The first airstrike is believed to have killed 18 members of Shiite militias. Two follow-up strikes at the base over the course of the past two weeks killed a combined 15 militia members, and caused additional damage to the facilities.

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