An Iraqi paramilitary force Monday accused the United States of killing 22 of its fighters in an overnight air raid just inside Syria's border with Iraq that a monitor said left dozens dead.

"US planes fired two guided missiles at a fixed position of Hashed al-Shaabi units on the border with Syria, killing 22 fighters and wounding 12," said the Iran-backed Hashed (Popular Mobilisation Units).

It said the raid took place "700 metres (yards) inside Syria", adding that an investigation had been opened and the results would be passed on to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that more than 50 fighters allied to the Damascus regime, most of them foreign, were killed in Sunday night's raid on Al-Hari in eastern Syria.

It did not say who carried out the attack.

Syrian state media, citing a military source, accused the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group and said the attack left several dead and wounded, without giving precise figures.

The coalition's press office said it had heard reports that a strike in the area of Al-Hari had killed and wounded members of a pro-regime Iraqi group, but denied it was responsible.

The Hashed said its fighters were deployed inside Syria north of the Albu Kamal border town "because of the desert nature of the zone and for military imperatives to prevent terrorist infiltration into Iraq".

The bodies of at least three fighters of the Hezbollah Brigades, part of the Hashed coalition fighting IS, have been repatriated to the southern Iraqi province of Zi Qar, an AFP correspondent said.

Palestinian killed by Israeli fire: Gaza ministry
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories (AFP) June 18, 2018 –

A Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire on Monday near the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory said.

An Israeli army statement said "several terrorists were injured" in an explosion as they attempted to carry out sabotage near the border fence, but made no mention of troops opening fire.

Gaza's health ministry said "Sabri Ahmed Abu Khader, 24, was killed by bullets of the (Israeli) occupation forces", without giving further details.

At least 131 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since major border protests broke out at the end of March.

No Israelis have been killed.

Palestinians are demanding the right to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel.

The Gaza Strip is controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas which Israel considers its bitter enemy.

The two sides have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire.

The Israeli army said Monday that five "terrorists" had "attempted to sabotage a security infrastructure in the area of the barrier in the northern Gaza Strip".

"The security infrastructure exploded," it said in an English-language statement. "Subsequently, several terrorists were injured."

Earlier, Israeli warplanes conducted strikes against nine Hamas "military targets" in northern Gaza in response to incendiary kites and balloons being sent into Israeli territory, the army said.

The attacks targeted two Hamas military sites and a munitions manufacturing site, the military said in a statement, without specifying whether the raids had resulted in casualties.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned after Monday's strikes that Gazans would pay a price for the fire attacks.

"If anyone thinks they can continue the routine of kites and fires every day – he's mistaken.," his office quoted him as saying.

Palestinian security sources said nobody was wounded in the morning air strikes.

"Fire balloons" and kites carrying flammable material have become symbols of the Palestinian border protests in recent months.

Lieberman says that 400 kites have been intercepted out of some 600 launched since the end of March.

So far more than 300 fires have devastated several thousand hectares (acres) of fields and shrubland, according to the Israeli fire service.