Two U.S. fighter jets came close to an Iranian passenger plane over Syrian airspace causing the pilot to change altitude quickly to avoid collision, which injured several passengers, the official IRIB news agency reported on Thursday.
The agency initially reported a single Israeli jet had come near the plane but later quoted the pilot as saying there were two jets which identified themselves as American.
The pilot of the passenger plane contacted the jet pilots to warn them about keeping a safe distance and the jet pilots identified themselves as American, IRIB reported.
Video posted by the agency showed a single jet from the window of the plane and comments from a passenger who had blood on his face.
Watch: Video relarased by #Iran StateTV purportedly shows the moment 2 #Israeli warplanes threaten #Iranian passenger plane in the #Syrian airspace. pic.twitter.com/982gEyQb2h
— Habib Abdolhossein (@HAbdolhossein) July 23, 2020
The Iranian plane, belonging to Mahan Air, was heading from Tehran to Beirut and landed safely in Beirut, an airport source told Reuters.
An Israeli military spokesman had no immediate comment and there was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.
Israel and the United States have long accused Mahan Air of ferrying weapons for Iranian-linked guerrillas in Syria and elsewhere.
One passenger in the IRIB report described how his head had hit the roof of the plane during the change in altitude and video also showed an elderly passenger sprawled on the floor.
In an unusual development Iraqpost website quoted , a well-informed source saying the intercepting jet was a Soviet-origin Sukhoi Su-27 that carried dangerous weapons.
All of the passengers reportedly came off the plane and only some had minor injuries, the head of the Beirut airport told Reuters.
REUTERS
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