US launches fresh strike on pro-Syrian government forces

The US-led coalition battling Islamic State launched a fresh strike on Tuesday against forces supporting the Syrian government that it said threatened U.S. and partnered forces based in southern Syria, in the latest sign of growing tension there.

"Despite previous warnings, pro-regime forces entered the agreed-upon de-confliction zone with a tank, artillery, anti-aircraft weapons, armed technical vehicles and more than 60 soldiers," the coalition said in a statement.

It was the second time in less than a month that coalition forces have attacked pro-regime forces as they headed toward a garrison where coalition commandos have been training and advising local forces.

The fresh strike comes as new figures show civilian casualties have increased sharply in the US-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, with nearly 60 per cent of the reported deaths from the three-year war being reported in the first three months of the Trump presidency.

The Guardian reported that US Central Command (Centcom) admitted to 484 deaths up to the end of April as a result of coalition strikes as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in August 2014. That compares with a cumulative total of 199 announced at the beginning of February.

The true death toll is likely to be far higher as these figures relate only incidents that the US military has beena ble to investigate and confirm.