SOHR: Strikes in Syria hit fuel convoy from Iraq; Iranians killed

Late night airstrikes in eastern Syria along the border with Iraq targeted Iran-backed militias, inflicting casualties, Syrian opposition activists said Wednesday. According to two paramilitary officers in Iraq, some of those killed in the attack were Iranian nationals.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the strikes. The US military, which has carried out such attacks with Israel in the past, said it was not behind them and was not involved in al-Qaim’s attack.

The airstrikes, shortly before midnight Tuesday, hit fuel tankers and other trucks carrying weapons for militias in Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zour province, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor. It added that at least 14 people, most of them militia members, have been killed in the strike.

The Deir Ezzor 24, an activist collective, reported three airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in the Syrian border town of Boukamal and nearby areas. It had no immediate report on casualties.

Earlier, members of Iraqi paramilitary groups operating in the area said an airstrike on a convoy carrying fuel across the Iraqi border into Syria killed at least 10 people late Tuesday. The attack struck a convoy of about 15 trucks that had entered Syria near the city of al-Qaim, two paramilitary officers told The Associated Press.

It was unclear where the convoy came from, but officers said some of the dead were Iranian citizens. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the strikes with reporters.

Iran’s state television’s English-language service, Press TV, early Wednesday quoted unnamed sources as claiming there was an attack on a fuel truck convoy crossing from Iraq to Syria at the Al-Qaim border crossing. Press TV claimed the convoy was transporting Iranian oil to Lebanon via Syria. Iranian officials did not provide details about the victim.

Iranian state television claimed that the attack on the convoy was fought by US drones and helicopters, with no evidence to back the claim. It said the convoy included 22 tank trucks, adding that the attack took place after eight of the trucks entered Syria.

The US military denied this. Army Major Rachael L. Jeffcoat told the AP on Wednesday that “no US troops or US-led coalition (members) have launched an airstrike in Al-Qaim, Iraq, on the border with Syria.

Iran is a major mainstay of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has sent thousands of Iranian-backed fighters to aid Syrian forces during the country’s 11-year civil war. Both the Tehran and Assad governments are also linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which fought alongside Assad’s forces in the war.