U.S. military denies responsibility for attack near Iraqi-Syrian border
US Army Paratroopers at Pope Army Airfield in North Carolina. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The U.S. Central Command denied on Wednesday that its forces were behind the air raid that targeted a convoy of oil tanker trucks near the Syrian-Iraqi border on Tuesday evening.
The spokesperson of the U.S. Central Command, Joe Buccino, mentioned in a statement that the attack that took place near the Iraqi borders was not carried out by U.S. forces, according to Rudaw news.
Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S.-led international coalition against ISIS denied responsibility for the attack.
“Neither the U.S.-led coalition nor the United States carried out the attack,” the spokesperson of the U.S.-led coalition told AFP.
Sources confirmed earlier that a convoy of tanker trucks exited Iraq with official approvals, indicating that the bombing targeted two trucks out of 23 trucks.
Iranian news outlets denied that the air raid caused any casualties and indicated that a U.S. drone carried out an attack targeting two tanker trucks carrying oil derivatives inside the Syrian territories near Al-Qai’m border crossing.
Rudaw News mentioned earlier that the international coalition bombed a convoy carrying smuggled oil as soon as it left Al-Qai’m border crossing, towards Syria, 25 meters away from the border crossing.
The American newspaper, Wall Street Journal, revealed that Israel carried out air strikes in eastern Syria targeting a convoy of vehicles suspected of smuggling Iranian weapons after it crossed the border from Iraq.
According to the report, at least 10 people were killed in the attack, including several Iranians, but the exact number of the casualties is still unclear.
Officials in Iraq said that the convoy was transporting fuel from Iran to Lebanon, but other sources mentioned that some of the vehicles in the convoy were carrying ammunition and missiles in addition to the fuel, Wall Street Journal reported.
The United States launched several attacks in the region, but foreign reports also mentioned that Israel was behind some of the attacks.