U.S.-backed forces launch offensive on IS positions in eastern Syria

DAMASCUS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared on Tuesday the beginning of a new offensive against the Islamic State (IS) militants in the countryside of the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, the SDF said in a statement.

The battle was launched against the areas under the IS control on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in Deir al-Zour, said the statement, adding that it's a follow-up offensive against IS near the Iraqi border.

The SDF has put on hold its previous offensive on IS east of Deir al-Zour when the Turkish forces launched an offensive in January against Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, mainly in the Afrin enclave near the Turkish border.

The SDF has stripped IS of its de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria in late 2017, while the army captured large swathes of territories in Deir al-Zour province.

Tension has sparked recently between the Russian-backed Syrian army and the U.S.-backed SDF in Deir al-Zour when the army took some areas from the SDF and was later retrieved by this Kurdish-led group.

Even though a sort of understanding between Washington and Moscow has kept them from clashing, the Syrian side has repeatedly slammed the SDF as playing for the Western fragmentation schemes in Syria. Enditem