The US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria conducted strikes against pro-regime forces in Syria Wednesday, the coalition said in a statement.
The coalition said the strikes were carried out after forces allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “initiated an unprovoked attack” against a well-established Syrian Democratic Forces headquarters where coalition advisers were working with US-backed Syrian fighters.
A US official told CNN that the attackers crossed the Euphrates River and were armed with artillery and other weapons. The US official said that US forces in the region counterattacked using artillery and aircraft.
The official added that no US personnel were killed or wounded in the engagement.
The official added that it was unclear exactly who the pro-regime forces were but the US is looking into whether Russian contractors operating in the vicinity might have been involved but added that there is no direct evidence yet that the Russians fired on the Syrian Democratic Forces facility where the US advisers were located. The official said they have not ruled out that Iranian backed-forces might have also been involved in the attack.
“In defense of coalition and partner forces, the coalition conducted strikes against attacking forces to repel the act of aggression against partners engaged in the Global Coalition’s defeat-Daesh mission,” the coalition statement said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
The coalition said the attack took place in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, eight kilometers east of the agreed upon “de-confliction” line which is designed to separate Russian-backed regime troops and US-backed forces in Syria.
The US maintains about 2,000 troop in Syria which mostly work with the over 50,000-strong Syrian Democratic Forces, a mix of Kurdish and Arab fighters and have been the primary US-backed force fighting ISIS in Syria.
This is not the first time the US military has clashed with pro-regime forces in Syria.
A US Navy F/A-18 shot down a Syrian regime Su-22 jet in June that had attacked US-backed forces on the ground. Coalition aircraft have also struck regime forces that were perceived as posing a threat to a base at At Tanf, Syria that houses US and coalition military advisers.
