At midnight on 23 December 2024, at least one civilian was injured, and at least two men were killed, in a declared United States Central Command (CENTCOM) airstrike and/or drone strike on a vehicle on a side road between the villages of Baqras and al-Zebari in the Deir Ezzor countryside, Syria.

CENTCOM released an official statement regarding the incident, reporting that two ISIS members were killed and one other was injured in a “midnight precision airstrike” near al-Zebari, eastern Deir Ezzor on “terrorist” who were “moving a truckload of weapons which were destroyed during the strike”. At the time the statement did not specify whether civilians had been injured or killed in the incident. As CENTCOM is the only source to identify those killed and injured as ISIS militants, the killed and injured have been classified as civilians until further information is found corroborating their militant status.

Users on social media shared the names of those killed in the incident – Abdul Fattah al-Hamad al-Khazim and Abdul Majeed Muhammad al-Hussein al-Madad. Facebook user Reef Dur Zur posted that they were killed in the bombing of “the car they were riding in in the Al-Zebari Qura Shamiya area.” Images of the individuals killed posted by sources on social media show two young men, who appear to be no older than their late teens or early twenties.

On December 24, the Syrian observatory for human rights (SOHR) reported that “two arms dealers“ had been killed “and another” had been injured in an American drone strike at night, which hit a “truck carrying ammunition on a side road between the villages of Baqras and al-Zebari in the Deir Ezzor countryside, which led to its explosion and complete burning.” They added that “it is not known whether [the victims] belonged to the organization’s cells. Referring to those killed in the strike, Al Sharqiya news posted “it is worth noting that the two young men are civilians and have no connection to ISIS.”

Twitter/X user @DeirEzzore alleged that a casualty that had been injured in a “projectile explosion” was a civilian from the “town of al-Zebari, east of Deir Ezzor.” They further detailed that the truck had been carrying weapons “stolen from the regime army barracks”, and was “about to cross the Euphrates river towards the” SDF controlled Al-Jazeera area, when “it was bombed by international coalition drones.” Facebook user Hazb Al Salam posted that the truck carrying live ammunition “exploded…under unknown circumstances.”

In the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) Quarterly Civilian Harm Report for January 2025 – March 2025, the DoD announced that it was “not likely that the reported civilian death and two civilian injuries occurred due to US or coalition operations” on December 23, 2024 in Al Zebari, Syria. Airwars continues to grade the civilian harm of this incident as “fair” based on local sources.