100 PRO-ASSAD FIGHTERS KILLED IN U.S.-LED STRIKES

The U.S.-led coalition killed more than 100 Assad regime fighters in eastern Syria, officials said, in the largest deliberate strike by Western forces against pro-government troops.

The coalition said it hit regime fighters with air strikes and artillery after they launched an “unprovoked attack” against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Western-backed rebels fighting ISIL in Syria.

“We estimate more than 100 Syrian pro-regime forces were killed while engaging SDF and coalition forces,” a U.S. military official said.

The strikes took place in the Euphrates River valley in the province of Deir Ezzor, where ISIL still holds scraps of territory but is under intense pressure from both Syrian forces and the SDF.