Syria state media say US forces ‘kidnapped civilians’ near Deir Ezzor

DUBAI: US forces carried out a “large airborne operation” near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria on Monday at dawn, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
The American forces landed in the town of Busayra, east of Deir Ezzor, and “kidnapped a number of civilians,” it said.
There was no independent confirmation of the report.
In Washington, the Pentagon said U.S-led coalition forces had carried out an operation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Busayra that killed four Daesh fighters, including one wearing a suicide vest, but there had been no detentions.
It added that there was a separate unilateral operation by the SDF but did not say whether anyone was detained by them.
The province of Deir Ezzor, along the Iraqi border, is a strategic supply route for Iranian-backed militias who regularly send reinforcements into Syria to support President Bashar Assad against insurgents seeking to topple his family rule.
US forces are deployed at a base in the Al-Tanf region, south of Deir Ezzor, as part of a combat mission against Daesh militants who continue to wage a low-level insurgency in Iraq and Syria.