Russia has revealed it warned the US about 'red lines' it should not cross before it launched airstrikes on Syria. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is reported to have said that officials in Washington were contacted before last weekend's strikes by the US, UK and France. Mr Lavrov said: "There were military leadership contacts, between generals, between our representatives and the coalition leadership. 'They were informed about where our red lines are, including red lines on the ground, geographically. And the results show that they did not cross these red lines.'

Russia says it told US where in Syria they could not bomb 2:27

THE Syrian army is reporting new enemy aggression, with missiles targeting missile bases in the north of the country.

“Syria is being exposed to a new aggression with some military bases in rural Hama and Aleppo hit with enemy rockets,” a Syrian army source is reported by state-run media as saying.

Military commentators and Middle East analysts are reporting an attack appears to have been made on the headquarters of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Brigade 47 near the village of Maarin al-Jabal, just south of Hama city. It is said to be used as a recruitment and training facility.

It was also believed to house a weapons depot, which would account for the intensity of the blast.

A second explosion has been reported at the Iranian-backed Brigade 80 headquarters situated north of Aleppo city.

Media outlets with connections to the Syrian regime are claiming 38 soldiers have been killed and 57 injured in the attacks.

The cause of the blasts remains unclear. Reports of Israeli involvement remain speculation, while some Syrian Democtratic Force rebels have claimed responsibility.

Syrian state media reported that authorities were work to “determine the cause of the explosions.”

“A new attack with missiles targeted military positions in the provinces of Hama and Aleppo,” respectively in the centre and north of the country, the Assad-government official news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights monitor confirmed the firing of missiles, also confirming that “Iranian elements” were stationed at two of the targeted bases.

The Observatory could not immediately say whether there were any casualties, nor who was responsible for the missile strikes.

Yesterday, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said he reserved the right to strike all over Syria against any threats. He said he would not be deterred if Russia supplies the Syrians with advanced S-300 air defence systems.

“We will keep our freedom of operation in all of Syria. We have no intention to attack Russia or to interfere in domestic Syrian issues. But if somebody thinks that it is possible to launch missiles or to attack Israel or even our aircraft, no doubt we will respond and we will respond very forcefully,” Liberman said.

He added that Israel “will prevent Iran from establishing a forward base in Syria at any cost.”

The report came amid heightened tensions in Syria after Damascus and its ally Iran accused Israel on April 9 of conducting deadly strikes against a military base in the centre of the country.

Several days later, on April 14, the United States, France and Britain carried out strikes against several of the Syrian regime’s military positions, in response to a suspected chemical attack on the rebel stronghold of Douma, which caused dozens of deaths, according to rescue services.

In the April 9 attack, at least 14 soldiers, including seven Iranians, were killed in the strike on a military base in central Homs

Syrian government forces at the weekend briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour after rare clashes with US-backed Kurdish-led fighters before losing the area in a counter-offensive by the Kurdish-led force.

It’s the same region in which US and Russian forces clashed in February.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of ongoing clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The Islamic State had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.

Much of Deir el-Zour province was held by the Islamic State group but over the past year Syrian government forces captured most areas west of the Euphrates while SDF fighters took areas east of the river.

On February 7, pro-Syrian government fighters attacked SDF positions east of the river and faced a ferocious US counter-attack that left dozens, including Russians, dead.

SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said in a statement earlier yesterday that the Syrian army attack coincided with “our forces’ preparations to complete the Island Storm campaign” to liberate the remaining areas east of the river from Islamic State. Gabriel said the Syrian army and pro-government fighters began targeting SDF fighters to impede “the launching of our campaign against terrorism. Our forces are responding in self-defence.”

“We affirm that we are determined to eradicate terrorism from its roots and to assert our right to self-defence,” Gabriel said about Islamic State. “We consider this aggression by regime forces to be a support for terrorism and falls within the attempts to impede the war on terrorism.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said yesterday’s offensive left six SDF fighters dead and 22 wounded adding that there were also casualties on the government side.

Gabriel issued another statement later saying all the area lost earlier was regained by SDF fighters. He said Syrian troops were backed by Russian fighters adding that after the SDF’s counter-offensive, government forces “are now far away.”</s>The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a “new aggression,” with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria’s T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria's T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria's T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria's T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria's T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a “new aggression,” with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria’s T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria's T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Syrian TV is reporting a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria.

The state-run television reported early Monday that the missiles targeted military outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. It did not say who fired the missiles or whether there were any casualties or damage.

The news comes less than two weeks after a similar report of airstrikes on government military installations in the central Homs region and the suburbs of Damascus. But the military later said a false alarm had set off air defense systems.

Earlier this month, seven Iranian military personnel were killed in an airstrike on Syria's T4 air base, also in Homs.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Syrian government forces briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour on Sunday after rare clashes with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, before losing the area in a counteroffensive by the Kurdish-led force.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of recent clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The IS had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.</s>AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said they expelled had Syrian troops that briefly took control of a string of villages in oil rich areas east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border on Sunday.

SDF forces led by the Kurdish YPG militia said they had waged a counter-attack against Syrian troops it said were backed by Russian forces, adding they were driven “far away” from four villages they had seized earlier in the day.

“Our forces regained the initiative,” they said in a statement.

It did not say if the U.S. coalition took part in the operation. Washington has a strong military presence in the area in eastern Syria which holds the bulk of the country’s oil and gas reserves, according to regional diplomatic sources.

A U.S. army statement sent to Reuters confirmed the attack on SDF forces by what it called pro-regime forces near Deir al-Zor city and said the “coalition used established deconfliction channels to de-escalate the situation”, without elaborating.

“The coalition remains committed to our SDF partners in the campaign to defeat Daesh (Islamic State) in eastern Syria,” the statement added.

A Western diplomatic source earlier told Reuters U.S. coalition jets from bases in northern Syria hit the attacking forces which were believed to include Iranian-backed militias operating in Deir al-Zor area.

Iranian-backed forces led by Iraqi and Lebanese Hezbolah Shi’ite militias played a major role in defeating the militants last year in eastern Syria.

A source in the SDF also confirmed coalition forces had intervened.

Earlier, the Syrian army said it had captured a string of villages east of the Euphrates near the border with Iraq held by Kurdish-led forces, state television said. It gave no explanation for the move.

The U.S.-backed proxy forces spearheaded by the YPG since last year control much of the territory east of the Euphrates in Deir al-Zor province as part of a major aerial and ground campaign led by the Pentagon that drove Islamic State militants from eastern Syria and their former de facto capital Raqqa.

The Russian-backed Syrian army has rarely clashed with SDF forces in its campaign against Islamic State and had kept away from their areas east of the Euphrates, focusing on regaining territory from the militants west of the river.

There have been elaborate “deconfliction lines” separating the coalition forces on the eastern side of the river from the Russian and Iranian backed forces on the western side to prevent clashes, U.S army officials and defense analysts say.

In February, U.S. airstrikes killed and wounded hundreds of pro-government forces including Russian paramilitary contractors advancing near the eastern city of Deir al-Zor towards one of the largest gas fields in the hands of U.S.-backed forces.

Before the announcement that the Syrian army had taken control of the villages, the SDF said they were engaged in heavy clashes with Syrian army troops on the outskirts of the village of Janin near the Euphrates.

They accused Syrian authorities of seeking to disrupt preparations by the U.S.-led coalition to resume an imminent offensive against Islamic State in several pockets of territory along the middle Euphrates River Valley that they still control.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Thursday he expected a “re-energized” effort against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria in the coming days.

U.S. officials have said that in recent days they have seen SDF fighters returning to the area of the Euphrates where the militants operate to relaunch new operations against them.

The Kurdish-led militia has blamed a Turkish offensive in Afrin against it for diverting efforts away from the fight against the militants.
The Syrian Army, along with what is believed to be Iranian-backed militias, took control villages east of the Euphrates river near the city of Deir ez-Zor that were under the control by Kurdish-led forces in a rare clash with the Syrian Democratic Forces. The territory was later recaptured by U.S.-backed forces in a counter-attack spearheaded by the YPG with help from U.S.-led coalition jets that took off from American bases in northern Syria. The U.S. military says in a statement that the "coalition used established deconfliction channels to de-escalate the situation".