• A Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Super Hornet releases a Mark 82 bomb during Exercise Jericho Dawn held at Puckapunyal, Victoria earlier this year. Credit: Defence
    A Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Super Hornet releases a Mark 82 bomb during Exercise Jericho Dawn held at Puckapunyal, Victoria earlier this year. Credit: Defence
Close×

RAAF F/A-18A Hornets may have been involved in an airstrike overnight in which Syrian Army soldiers were killed around the Dayr Az Zawr military airport in Syria's east.

A Defence release confirmed Coalition aircraft were conducting airstikes in the area against what was believed to be a Daesh fighting position that the Coalition had been tracking for some time.

"However, shortly after the bombing commenced, Russian officials advised the Combined Air Operations Centre that the targets may have been Syrian military personnel," a Defence spokesperson said.

Bombing ceased immediately however Australian aircraft were believed to be among a number of international aircraft taking part in this Coalition operation around Dayr Az Zawr. The ABC has reported that between 62 and 83 Syrian Army soldiers loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad were killed. There have also been reports from the Russian military that F-16 and A-10 aircraft were the types involved in the attack.

"While Syria remains a dynamic and complex operating environment, Australia would never intentionally target a known Syrian military unit or actively support Daesh (also known as ISIL). Defence offers its condolences to the families of any Syrian personnel killed or wounded in this incident," the spokesperson said.

"As Australians would expect, the US-led Coalition will review this incident thoroughly and Australia will cooperate fully with this review.

"In order to maintain the integrity of this review, Defence will not provide any further details at this time."

comments powered by Disqus