Syria FM says Iran coordinated ballistic missile strikes

Syria's foreign minister said in remarks broadcast Tuesday that the Iranian ballistic missile attack on militants in eastern Syria the previous day was part of "legitimate" cooperation between the two countries to combat terrorism.

Walid al-Muallem's comments came during a wide-ranging interview with the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV. The full interview is to air later in the day.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard launched six ballistic missiles as well as drone bombers toward Syria's Deir az-Zour province on Monday, targeting Islamic State militants it blamed for an attack on a military parade in Iran last month.

Last year, Iran struck militant positions in Deir az-Zour's town of Mayadeen following another attack, in Tehran, that was blamed on IS.

Syrian government forces and allied Iranian-backed militias gained control of the strategic border town of Boukamal, near where the strikes took place, late last year, likely improving Iran's intelligence and capabilities in the area.

The strikes were seen as a warning to Iran's regional adversaries at a time when its nuclear deal with world powers is coming unravelled.

"The Iranian missiles are in the framework of combating terrorism," said al-Muallem.

The Syrian government and its allies, as well as the US-led coalition, are separately battling IS, which still controls a sliver of land along Syria's border with Iraq.

US military spokesman Col. Sean Ryan told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday that the Iranian missiles "potentially jeopardise the forces on the ground that are actually fighting (IS) and puts them in danger."

Ryan said US forces were not in danger during the attack, "but any time anyone just fires missiles through uncoordinated air space, it's a threat." He said the military was "still assessing" how many Iranian missiles were fired.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said its strikes killed some 40 militant leaders.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard's aerospace division, identified one of the dead as the IS commander of its Mosul district, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The Guard also published pictures it described as the targets hit, which appeared to be villas. It described the attack as "precision" strikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said the strikes killed eight people in Hajin, a town still controlled by IS. It was not clear if all those killed were militants, the Observatory said, adding that one of the missiles hit a house that had been seized by IS.

The US military's Central Command acknowledged that Iranian forces conducted "no-notice strikes" in the area Monday and said it was assessing the damage.