70 killed or injured in US-led airstrike in Syria: Report

A total of 70 civilians were killed or wounded by a US-led airstrike in eastern Syria, state agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

The airstrike targeted a camp for displaced people in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour on Monday evening, according to the report.

Airstrikes have intensified on Islamic State (IS)-held areas in the eastern Euphrates river region.

On Saturday, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started the final stage of attacks against the IS in the eastern Euphrates river region in eastern Syria.

Following the evacuation of over 20,000 civilians from the town of Baghouz, the SDF started the operation against the remaining IS-held pockets in the eastern Euphrates region, according to Mustafa Balli, the head of the SDF media office.

Balli said that the battle aims to eliminate the last IS militants in the town of Baghouz.

The US-backed SDF has been on a crushing offensive to root out the IS from the eastern Euphrates region since last September.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said over 37,000 civilians, including IS militants, have fled the last IS-held pocket to areas controlled by the SDF in the eastern Euphrates area since last December.

--IANS

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