Unidentified planes attacked and destroyed a convoy of trucks carrying Iranian weapons in eastern Syria on Sunday (January 29) as soon as they arrived from neighboring Iraq, a Syrian NGO said, reporting an unknown number of casualties.
“Six refrigerated trucks were the target of attacks by unidentified planes in the Boukamal border region after entering Syrian territory from Iraq,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) director Rami Abdel Rahman. The strikes destroyed the trucks and killed or injured the occupants, he added. He did not give a specific assessment.
“The trucks were carrying Iranian weapons,” while Iran, a close ally of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, is providing him with military assistance in the conflict, particularly through armed groups.
Two similar convoys this week
According to the OSDH, at least two similar convoys entered Syria from Iraq this week. They offloaded the weapons to pro-Iranian groups in the city of Al-Mayadine (east). The cities of Al-Mayadine and Boukamal are in the province of Deir Ezzor, divided and controlled by various groups and factions.
Iranian regime forces, fighters and groups loyal to them control the area west of the Euphrates River, which divides the province in two. The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US-led international anti-jihad coalition, controls areas on its east coast.
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Iranian and Iraqi forces, as well as pro-Iranian groups including Lebanese Hezbollah, are stationed in a large area in the east of the province, particularly between Boukamal and Al-Mayadine.
The international coalition has repeatedly admitted to carrying out strikes against pro-Iranian fighters in the region. Israel, a neighboring country and enemy of Syria, has conducted multiple raids against Iranian targets on Syrian territory in recent years.
Last November, a raid targeted a convoy carrying weapons and fuel belonging to pro-Iranian militias in the Boukamal region, killing at least 14 people, according to the OSDH. The international coalition, whose members are stationed in Syria and Iraq, said it was not behind the raid, while Israel declined to comment.
Since 2011, the conflict in Syria, which involves multiple powers and armed groups, has claimed the lives of around half a million people.