Ten Reported Killed in Airstrikes on Syria-Iraq Border

Airstrikes targeting a convoy of trucks launched by unidentified aircraft were reported on the Syria-Iraq border on Sunday.

According to The Times of Israel, Syria’s Sham FM radio station and other local media reports said six refrigerator trucks were hit. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported six refrigerator trucks were targeted and said they were hit in eastern Syria after crossing the border.

The SOHR later said 10 people were killed in the strikes and described them as “truck drivers and their assistants, all of them non-Syrians” and said the trucks were carrying Iranian weapons. Other reports contradicted the claim, with sources telling Al-Mayadeen, a Lebanon-based media outlet, that the convoy did “not carry any weapons.”

The aircraft was unidentified, but Israel is suspected, as it has launched similar attacks in the past. In November, airstrikes hit a convoy of trucks entering Syria from Iraq, reportedly killing ten people. Israel’s former army chief, Aviv Kohavi, later said Israel was responsible for the attack.

Kohavi, who just stepped down as the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, claimed a truck in the convoy that was hit in November was carrying weapons from Iran to Lebanon, while Syrian reports said it was carrying fuel.

Israel frequently launches airstrikes in Syria but rarely acknowledges individual strikes. The Israelis frame the operations as strikes against Iran and Hezbollah, but they often kill Syrian troops and damage civilian infrastructure.