Fighters from a US-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.
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Air strikes 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 air strikes on the US-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 largest offensive in years in a conflict whose front lines had been frozen since 2020.
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The heaviest fighting on Monday and overnight was along the frontline just north of Hama, another major Syrian city, where several villages have changed hands repeatedly over recent days.