US-led airstrikes kill 26 civilians in Syria Eight troops die in attack

FE Team | Published: November 10, 2018 21:37:02

DAMASCUS, Nov 10 (Agencies): US-led airstrikes killed at least 26 civilians on Friday in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour, state news agency SANA reported.
The airstrikes targeted the town of Hajin in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, said SANA, adding that women and children were among those killed.
Civilian casualties were reported before as a result of US-led strikes on the last Islamic State (IS)-held areas.
The United States has been backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to defeat the IS on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River near the Iraqi border.
Airstrikes on this area have recently been renewed as the Kurdish-led groups were planning a second wave of attacks on the IS after a failed attempt on Sept 10.
The Syrian government has long questioned the intention of the U.S.-led operations in this oil-rich area.
Meanwhile, jihadists have killed at least eight Syrian government troops near a planned buffer zone around the country's last major rebel bastion, a monitor said on Saturday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack took place late on Friday in the north of Hama province near the planned buffer zone around rebel-held territory in neighbouring Idlib.
The attack was led by fighters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda branch which is the dominant force in Idlib, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
"An assault by HTS targeted a Syrian regime position on the outskirts of the de-militarised zone" and was followed by clashes in which eight regime forces were killed, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. Two jihadists also died.
The de-militarised zone was announced by rebel backer Ankara and Damascus ally Moscow in September to separate government troops from rebel fighters in Idlib and adjacent areas.
Under the deal, the rebels were supposed to have removed all heavy weapons from the buffer zone by October 10 but skirmishes have continued to pit regime forces against jihadists and other insurgents on the ground.