A spokesperson from the US military's central command in the Middle East told the Wall Street Journal that the US F-15 military aircraft that allegedly flew over Syria yesterday did not approach within 1,000 meters of an Iranian passenger plane in the area. He noted that the F-15 was in the vicinity of a US military base in the area, thus explaining its presence.
Iran had originally claimed that the F-15 was an Israeli aircraft, a charge that Israel denied. According to accounts in Iranian media, the Iranian passenger plan, then over Damascus, was forced to make a hasty landing in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, with the swift descent to avoid collision resulting in the injury of several passengers.