US-backed forces in Syria claim to kill 18 pro-government fighters in major clash

In what has amounted to the most intense fighting in eastern Syria in almost a year, US-backed opposition forces attacked three posts manned by pro-government forces in the strategically important Deir Ezzor province on Monday.

The Arab-led Deir Ezzor Military Council, a faction of the US-aligned Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), publicly confirmed the assault, claiming to have killed 18 enemy fighters in response to the shelling of the villages of Dahla and Jdaidet Bakkara last week, which killed at least 11 civilians.  

In a statement, opposition forces claimed that the attack targeted the shelling's origin. 

An opposition war monitor based in Britain, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the deaths of at least nine pro-government fighters. READ MORE