QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — Fighters backed by Iran and the Syrian government have attacked areas controlled by U.S.-backed fighters in eastern Syria, killing at least two people and wounding others, the main U.S.-backed force in the war-torn country and an opposition war monitor said Wednesday.
The clashes in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq, came amid high tension in the region following last week’s killings of a top military commander of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in Beirut and the leader of the Palestinian Hamas group Ismail Haniyeh in Iran. Israel was blamed for both attacks, and Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate.
The clashes in eastern Syria are the most intense in nearly a year in areas where hundreds of U.S. troops have been deployed since 2015 to help in the fight against the Islamic State group.
Syrian government forces and Iran-backed fighters are deployed on the west bank of the Euphrates River in Deir el-Zour, while members of the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces control the east banks 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 was ongoing Wednesday as the SDF tries to bring the situation under control.
Dhiban is few kilometers from al-Omar oil field that houses a base housing SDF fighters and U.S. troops.
Kurdish-led authorities imposed an open-ended curfew in areas they control on the east bank of the river, saying that anyone that violates the order will be referred to judicial authorities.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said that the SDF brought reinforcements to the area as the fighting continues.
The SDF and the Observatory said the clashes and shelling left two people dead and five others wounded.
Pro-government media outlets said that the attacks were carried by local Arab tribesmen against the SDF, saying that several people were wounded in government-held areas.
On Monday, a rocket attack on a base housing U.S. troops in western Iraq left several American personnel wounded.
The rocket attack came days after a strike near a base of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia southwest of Baghdad killed at least one militant and wounded two others.
The attack comes days after an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias dubbed “the Islamic Resistance” resumed rocket attacks on U.S. military bases in the country and in eastern Syria.