Syria state media says US bombarded Syrian positions

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Syrian state media, citing a military source, reported on Monday that US-led coalition aircraft had bombarded “one of our military positions” in the eastern Syria, leading to deaths and injuries, but the US military denied carrying out strikes in the area.

"Aircraft of the American coalition bombarded one of our military positions in the area of al-Hari southeast of Albu Kamal" town in Deir Ezzor, state news agency SANA reported a military source as saying. There were no immediate details on casualties.

A commander in the military alliance backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also said that drones, “probably American,” had bombarded positions of Iraqi factions between Albu Kamal and Tanf and Syrian military positions.

“No member of the US-led coalition carried out strikes near Albu Kamal,” Major Josh Jacques, a US Central Command spokesman said.

In the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian government forces have carried out parallel but separate offensives against ISIS fighters.

Syrian pro-government forces patrol in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor on November 4, 2017. /VCG File Photo

The US-led coalition is supporting an alliance of Syrian Arab and Kurdish militia fighting ISIS northeast of Albu Kamal.

The Syrian army, alongside allied Iran-backed militias including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi groups, drove ISIL from Albu Kamal and its environs last year, but the jihadists have since staged attacks in the area.

US forces are also based in Tanf, southwest of Albu Kamal in the Syrian desert near the borders of Iraq and Jordan.

Both sides have mostly avoided running into each other, and a deconfliction line exists to avoid such incidents.

But there have been exceptions.

In April, rare clashes broke out between both sides, killing more than a dozen combatants.

Last week, Assad said he regarded the United States as an occupying power in Syria and that the position of his state was to “support any act of resistance, whether against terrorists or occupying forces, regardless of their nationality.”

(Cover: In this file photo taken on November 20, 2017, members of the pro-Syrian government forces ride on a tank as it drives down a street in the Syrian border town of Albu Kamal. /VCG Photo )

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters