A tunnel under excavation at the Imam Ali base in al-Bukamal, Syria, near the Syria-Iraq border. Photo: ImageSat International.

JNS.org – Syrian media on Wednesday reported a large explosion at the headquarters of a pro-Iranian Shi’ite militia in the city of Al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border.

The UK-based civilian watchdog group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that several facilities used by the pro-Iranian militias in the area had been attacked by drones. Five militiamen were killed in the attack, according to SOHR.

According to the report, eyewitnesses told SOHR the drones had struck a facility belonging to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

This 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 Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Middle East.

Located between Al-Bukamal and the Iraqi border down Al-Qa’im, the Imam Ali base is part of a larger IRGC project known as the “green belt,” the purpose of which is to facilitate the transfer of fighters and weapons from Iran to southern Syria and Lebanon via Iraq and Syria.

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