Iran says 'fuel truck' heading to Lebanon hit by US drones in east Syria
A strike on a pro-Iran militia convoy in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border killed at least 14 people overnight, a war monitor said Wednesday, without specifying who carried it out.
An official of the Iraqi border guard said the trucks were transporting fuel from Iran to Lebanon overland through Iraq and Syria.
He said the convoy consisted of 22 tanker trucks, of which 10 were hit after entering Syrian territory through the Al-Qaim - Albu Kamal border crossing. Four trucks were "completely burnt", he added.
According to two paramilitary officers in Iraq, some of those killed in the attack were Iranian nationals.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack hit a convoy of "fuel tankers and trucks loaded with weapons," in the the Albu Kamal area of the border.
It said at least 14 people were killed in the strike and a nearby militia position was also hit.
Iranian state television’s English-language service, Press TV, early on Wednesday cited unnamed sources claiming there was an attack on a fuel truck convoy crossing from Iraq into Syria at the al-Qaim border crossing. Press TV claimed the convoy was carrying Iranian oil to Lebanon through Syria. Iranian officials offered no casualty details.
Iran's state TV claimed the convoy attack was carried out by U.S. drones and helicopters, offering no evidence for the claim. It said the convoy included 22 tanker trucks, adding that the attack took place after eight of the trucks crossed into Syria.
The U.S.-led coalition told reporters in Iraq that it had no involvement in the raid.
Contacted by AFP, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria said that the strike was not carried out by the United States or any other coalition country.
Pro-Iran militias have a major presence around the Iraq-Syria border and are heavily deployed south and west of the Euphrates in Syria's Deir Ezzor province.
- Israel says 'no comment' -
A spokesman for the Israeli military told AFP: "We do not comment on foreign press reports."
Israel rarely comments on its military actions in Syria, save for operations in direct response to what the army considers immediate threats.
But Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of air and missile strikes in Syria, targeting both government positions and Iran-backed forces, since civil war broke out in the country in 2011.
Israel has said repeatedly it will not allow its archfoe Iran to gain a new foothold on its northern border.
In recent months, it has carried out multiple unconfirmed strikes in Syria, including one which killed five government troops in the capital Damascus and two that caused significant damage to the airport in the second city Aleppo.
Shiite militia groups close to Iran have a significant military presence across Syria and have been a key support to President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Pro-Iran militias have a major presence around the Iraq-Syria border and are heavily deployed south and west of the Euphrates in Syria's Deir Ezzor province.
In September last year, attack drones operated by an unidentified military struck a convoy belonging to Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary force made up mainly pro-Iran militias, in the Albu Kamal border area, killing at least three people.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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