The rebel Free Syrian Army has destroyed a plane carrying arms from Iran, an opposition news network reported Thursday.
The FSA hit the plane as it was landing in Damascus International Airport, the SANA Revolution Network reported.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency denied the report, saying everything was “normal” at the airport.
“The media reports on the airport carried out by media outlets that are accomplices in Syrian bloodshed are not true,” SANA said.
However, a video posted by activists on YouTube showed a plane catching fire as it tried to land at the airport.
Iran has remained a steadfast ally of the Syrian regime, with much of its military aid being delivered by plane, usually over Iraq with its government’s compliance.
According to Alaa al-Basha, a spokesman for the opposition Syrian Military Council in Damascus, a number of men belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were wounded in Thursday’s incident.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Iraq last week, and pressed the government to stop allowing such flights, describing them as “problematic” and “helping to sustain” the Syrian regime.
For months, Washington has accused Baghdad of turning a blind eye to such flights, and has called on authorities to make random, unannounced inspections.
