An Iranian passenger plane en route from Iran to Beirut swerved and dropped abruptly on Thursday to avoid a nearby American fighter jet, injuring several passengers before landing in Beirut.

Videos broadcast by Iranian and pro-Iran Lebanese media, which said the footage was taken by passengers, showed a fighter jet flying alongside the passenger plane, operated by Mahan Air, a privately owned Iranian airline.

Passengers then screamed as sudden turbulence seized the plane. In the aftermath, one video showed a passenger with his face and head bloodied, as well as a man lying down, apparently unconscious, while someone tended to him. Oxygen masks dangled overhead.

Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the US Central Command, said in a statement later on Thursday that an Air Force F-15 on “a routine air mission” near a small American military base in southern Syria had conducted “a standard visual inspection of a Mahan Air passenger airliner”.

American fighter jets fly daily patrols near the base, Al-Tanf, where 150 to 200 US troops train Syrian fighters, known as Maghawir al Thawra, who are fighting the Islamic State.

Captain Urban said the encounter on Thursday was conducted at “a safe distance of approximately 1,000 metres” and was done to “ensure the safety of coalition personnel”.

“Once the F-15 pilot identified the aircraft as a Mahan Air passenger plane,” Captain Urban added, “the F-15 safely opened distance from the plane”. He said the encounter was done “in accordance with international standards”.

A US military official said a second US Air Force F-15 was at least two miles away from the Mahan Air jetliner, but only one of the US aircraft closed to about 1,000 metres.

Iranian state TV, citing an interview with the Mahan Air pilot, had reported earlier that the jets were American.

Lebanese media said an elderly passenger had been taken to a hospital affiliated with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia and political party. Lebanese civil aviation authorities said the plane had been carrying 150 passengers, some of whom suffered minor injuries.

The American base at Al-Tanf, which sits near southern Syria’s border with Jordan and Iraq, is strategically located to block Iran from controlling a land route through Iraq to Syria and Lebanon.

In recent months, the American-backed Syrian forces have skirmished with roving bands of suspected IS fighters near Al-Tanf. In May 2017, American warplanes attacked a pro-Syrian government convoy.

New York Times News Service