Israeli F-35 fighter jets conducted a deep incursion into Syria and struck a convoy carrying Iranian kamikaze drones and missiles, reports suggest.
The attack happened in the night of November 8, 2022, in the Syrian town of Al-Quaim, eastern province of Deir Ezzor, on the border with Iraq.
According to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a convoy of trucks that just crossed into Syria from Iraq was targeted.
The report states that unidentified aircraft performed 10 strikes destroying a convoy and killing at least 15 people, most of them members of an Iranian-backed militia.
The convoy carried fuel and weapons from Iran, the report alleges. According to another report by Arab News, the Iranian state TV confirmed the attack saying that a convoy of fuel trucks was destroyed.
Russian aviation news website AviaPro reports that the strike was performed by Israeli F-35 fighter jets and that the convoy carried Iranian-made missiles as well as Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 loitering munitions.
AviaPro refers to local sources close to the matter who allegedly said that two military targets belonging to Liwa Fatemiyoun and Liwa Zainebiyoun – two brigades of Iran-backed Syrian militias – were attacked.
The website’s Telegram channel also posted photos and a short video from the scene, allegedly showing the installations and the convoy on fire. AeroTime could not confirm their authenticity.
While initially Iranian media claimed the strike was performed by US drones, later they started claiming that Israel aircraft struck the convoy, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The Wall Street Journal also claims that the strike was performed by Israeli aircraft, referring to sources close to the matter.
Al-Quaim is over 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the Israeli border. While well within range of Israel’s F-35s, it is located on the Eastern side of Syria, presuming that the jets bypassed Syrian air defenses, as well as the Russian air defenses deployed in Syria.
According to Avia Pro, Russian forces in Syria deployed additional air defenses in response to the strike, as well as earlier alleged Israeli attacks on targets within Syria.
If the reports are true, this is not the first Israeli strike on Iranian targets within Syria. For example, in late October 2022, SOHR reported that Israeli strikes destroyed an Iranian drone production facility located near Damascus, Syria.