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.
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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.
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