US-backed group fights Syrian army as reignited conflict spreads

Fighters from a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition battled Syrian government forces in northeast Syria early on Tuesday, both sides said, opening a new front for President Bashar al-Assad who lost Aleppo in a sudden rebel advance last week.

Airstrikes also targeted Iran-backed militia groups supporting Syrian government forces in the strategically vital region, a security source in eastern Syria and a Syrian army source said.

The sources both blamed the airstrikes on the U.S.-led military coalition which operates against Islamic State in Syria and has a small detachment of American troops on the ground. Reuters could not independently confirm the foreign force was involved in strikes and the coalition did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The fighting around a cluster of villages across the Euphrates river from regional capital Deir al-Zor complicates the military picture for Assad, whose forces were focused overnight on staunching a renewed rebel assault near Hama.

Last week's rebel assault that captured Aleppo - Syria's largest city before the war - is the biggest offensive for years in a conflict whose frontlines had been frozen since 2020.



Reuters