US airstrike hits IS convoy evacuating under Hezbollah deal

The US-led coalition says it has struck an Islamic State convoy coming from militant-held territory in Syria to meet IS evacuees being transferred there under a controversial deal brokered by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.

US officials have criticized the transfer of hundreds of militants and civilians who are bound for an IS-held area near the Iraqi border, saying the extremists should be killed on the battlefield.

Col. Ryan Dillon says Wednesday’s airstrike hit vehicles identified as belonging to IS that were traveling from IS-held territory toward the convoy.

Coalition officials say they are not bound by the evacuation agreement and may strike the evacuees themselves. An earlier coalition airstrike destroyed a small bridge and cratered a road, hindering the movement of the evacuees.

There are about 300 militants and almost as many family members on buses being evacuated under the deal, which ended the IS presence along the Lebanon-Syria border.

–AP