Unverified media reports claimed on Monday that an unidentified aircraft hit a truck near the Syria-Iraq border, hours after a similar attack was reported on Sunday night and a separate attack in the early morning hours.
Syrian opposition online outlet Naher Media said the truck hit in the town of Abu Kamal was loaded with weapons and ammunition destined for Iranian militias. The claim could not be independently verified.
One person was killed in the Monday afternoon attack, bringing the death toll in three recent attacks in the region to 11, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor with questionable veracity and unclear funding.
The one-man organization has been regularly accused by Syrian war analysts of false reporting and inflating casualties, as well as finding them wholesale.
There were no further details about the apparent attack, but pictures circulating online showed smoke rising from the area.
The incident came to light after Arab media reported on Sunday night that an unidentified aircraft had hit a convoy of Iranian trucks at the Al-Qaim crossing on the Syria-Iraq border, where frequent Iranian military activity has been reported.
Live from the Syrian city of Al-Bukamal.. A pile of flour explodes after an airstrike on trucks entering Syria carrying food supplies from Iraqi territory pic.twitter.com/AmjxOIbxF9
, (@hyd_64) January 30, 2023
Pro-Iran factions, including Iraqi groups as well as Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist group, 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. Iran is believed to frequently send weapons to Hezbollah from Iraq and via Syria.
The SOHR said a pro-Iranian commander was among three killed in a separate drone strike on Monday morning, with seven others killed in an overnight attack.
Monitor could not verify the identity of the victims.
As a rule, Israel’s military does not comment on specific strikes in Syria, but has acknowledged conducting hundreds of sorties over the past decade against Iran-backed groups trying to gain a foothold in the country.
The IDF says it also attacks weapons shipments bound for groups that Lebanon’s Hezbollah heads. Additionally, airstrikes by Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air defense systems.
Israeli attacks have continued in Syrian airspace, which is largely controlled by Russia, even as relations with Moscow have deteriorated over the past year. Israel has found itself at odds with Russia as it has increasingly backed Ukraine while seeking to maintain freedom of movement in Syrian skies.
AFP contributed to this report.
