Pro-government fighters attack areas of US-backed fighters in eastern Syria; 2 killed

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — Iranian- and Syrian government-backed fighters have attacked areas controlled by U.S.-backed fighters in eastern Syria, killing at least two people and wounding several others, the main U.S.-backed force in the war-torn country and an opposition war monitor said Wednesday.

The clashes in Syria’s Deir el-Zour province, bordering Iraq, came at a time of high tension in the region following the killings last week of a senior military commander of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in Beirut and the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Iran. Israel has been blamed for both attacks, and Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate.

Clashes in eastern Syria are the most intense in almost a year, in areas where hundreds of U.S. troops have been stationed since 2015 to help fight the Islamic State group.

Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed fighters have been deployed on the western bank of the Euphrates River at Deir el-Zour, while members of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces control the eastern bank of the river.

The SDF said in a statement that “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” attacked the villages of Dhiban, Latwa and Abu Hamam starting late Tuesday. It added that fighting continued on Wednesday as the SDF tried to bring the situation under control.

Dhiban lies a few kilometers from the Al-Omar oil field, which is home to a base of SDF fighters and American soldiers.

Kurdish authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in the areas they control on the eastern bank of the river, announcing that anyone violating the ban would be referred to judicial authorities.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors opposition activities, said the SDF had sent reinforcements to the area as fighting continued.

The SDF and the Observatory said two people were killed and five injured in clashes and shelling.

Pro-government media reported that the attacks were carried out by local Arab tribes against the SDF; several people were injured in government-controlled areas.

On Monday, several American soldiers were wounded in a rocket attack on a base in western Iraq where American troops were stationed.

The rocket attack came days after a strike near an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia base southwest of Baghdad killed at least one militant and wounded two.

The attack came days after an umbrella group of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias known as the Islamic Resistance Movement resumed rocket attacks on U.S. military bases in the country and eastern Syria.