US-led coalition forces say they killed up to 100 militants loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in an overnight air strike in retaliation for an attack on their Kurdish and Arab allies.
SDF and Syrian forces control areas on both side of the River Euphrates in Deir al-Zour province.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Hundreds of pro-Assad fighters backed by artillery, tanks and other heavy weaponry, tried to take ground captured by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces from the Islamic State, the BBC reports.
“We suspect Syrian pro-regime forces were attempting to seize terrain SDF had liberated from Daesh (Isis) in September 2017,” an official told Reuters, adding that the forces were “likely seeking to seize oil fields in Khusham that had been a major source of revenue for Daesh from 2014 to 2017”.
A top Russian official rejected claims that the move was in self-defence, and Syria condemned the attack, heightening tension after months of relative calm in the war-ravaged country, the Wall Street Journal says.
Syrian news agency Sana says the US-led coalition targeted “popular forces” that were fighting Isis terrorists and Qasad groups in Deir Ezzor countryside.
Officials declined to identify details of the attacking forces, “suspected to be Syrian or from one of a number of allied militia units, including from Iraq and Lebanon, that are backing President Bashar al-Assad in the country's seven-year civil war”, the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National says.
No US forces and one SDF fighter reportedly died in the operation.
More than 465,000 Syrians have been killed during almost eight years of fighting, and more than 12 million - half of Syria’s pre-war population - have been displaced, Al Jazerra English says.
-
Nasa’s new dark matter mapUnder the Radar High-resolution images may help scientists understand the ‘gravitational scaffolding into which everything else falls and is built into galaxies’
-
Is the US about to lose its measles elimination status?Today's Big Question Cases are skyrocketing
-
‘No one is exempt from responsibility, and especially not elite sport circuits’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Syria’s Islamic State problemIn The Spotlight Fragile security in prison camps leads to escape of IS fighters
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
