U.S. Official Says Israel, Not U.S., Hit Syria

An airstrike against Syria on Sunday was not carried out by the U.S., as Syrian state media has charged, but by Israel, a U.S. official told CNN on Monday.

Syrian media blamed the strike against forces fighting with the Assad regime on the U.S.-led coalition combating Islamic State elements; but a spokesman for the coalition said there were no coalition operations in the target area, near the Iraq-Syria border,

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group initially reported that 40 fighters loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad were killed, but later said the death toll had risen to 52.

The IDF declined to comment on the strike, per its normal policy.

It was noted that Sunday’s strike was uncharacteristic of Israeli air force operations, which have usually taken place in the western part of Syria, in the vicinity of Damascus and Homs.

By contrast, this latest attack was in Eastern Syria, hundreds of miles distant from the targets usually attributed to Israeli strikes.