Syrian army says captured villages from U.S.-backed forces

The Syrian army said on Sunday they had captured a string of villages from U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) east of the Euphrates River near the border with Iraq where the Kurdish-led forces are in control, Syrian state television said.

The U.S.-backed proxy forces spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia since last year have taken over much of the territory east of the Euphrates River in Deir Zor province as part of a major campaign that drove Islamic State militants out from eastern Syria that borders Iraq.

The 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.