Russian airstrikes kill 4 children from same family in Deir Ezzor city

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 4 children from the same family were killed when the Russian warplanes struck ISIS-held al-Aridi neighborhood in eastern Deir Ezzor city, local activists said on Monday.

The strikes have targeted the remaining four districts under ISIS control including al-Aridi neighborhood. The eastern province is partly controlled by ISIS, which is under pressure from several fronts in war-torn Syria.

ISIS's last major stronghold, the cities, towns and farms in the fertile strip along the Euphrates bordering Iraq are fast becoming the focus of six-year-long civil war.

ISIS launched early Monday counterattack on Saijan oilfield on Monday which is under the control of the U.S.-backed SDF militia while regime forces took new ground in the southeastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

On Sunday, SDF said they captured a major oil field in Deir Ezzor, pressing their offensive against Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces said they gained control of al-Omar oil field, one of Syria’s largest, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river.

With air strikes and special forces from the U.S.-led coalition, the SDF has been battling Islamic State in oil-rich Deir Ezzor, bordering Iraq. The SDF alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias has been focused on territory east of the river, which bisects the province, Reuters reported.

The regime army, with Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has been waging its own separate offensive against Islamic State militants, mostly to the west of the river.

The U.S.-led coalition and the Russian military have been holding deconfliction meetings - to prevent clashes between planes and troops - though the offensives have sometimes come into conflict.

Al-Omar oil field lies some 10 km (6.21 miles) north of the town of al-Mayadin, which regime forces and their allies took earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the fate of tens of detained civilians in ISIS prisons is still unknown after the regime army seized al-Mayadin.