Syrian regime confirms US-led coalition airstrike

By Abduljabbar Aburas

DAMASCUS (AA) - The Assad regime has confirmed that U.S.-led coalition warplanes on Thursday struck one of its military sites in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.

“The strike occurred at 16:30 p.m. local time Thursday, leaving several people dead and causing significant material damage,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted a military source as saying on Friday.

Following Thursday’s airstrike, U.S. military officials announced that regime-allied forces -- which had "posed a threat to U.S. and partner forces" in Syria’s southeastern city of Al-Tanf -- had been targeted.

According to U.S. military commanders, the strike was carried out in response to the entry of regime-allied forces into a “de-escalation zone” in which U.S. and allied forces were operating.

At the time of the strike, pro-Assad forces “were advancing well inside” the de-escalation zone, the coalition said in a Thursday statement.

Coalition forces, it went on to assert, had been operating near Al-Tanf “for many months, training and advising vetted partner forces” engaged in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group.