With the risen death toll, these were the deadliest airstrikes conducted by the Israeli Air Force on eastern Syria since the start of the conflict. Observers have warned that Israel and the United States will increase attacks against Iran in the final days of the Trump administration, which gave unprecedented support to the government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.[8] US officials confirmed that the strikes were carried out with intelligence provided by the United States. According to one official, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the airstrikes two days earlier with Yossi Cohen, chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, in Washington, D.C..[9]