(Reuters) - U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces said on Wednesday they had begun a campaign against "terrorists" linked to Islamic State in a strategic town in the oil rich eastern province of Deir al Zor that residents and witnesses say has been at the centre of protests opposing the rule of U.S.-supported militia.
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spearheaded by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said it had so far arrested 20 militants and confiscated weapons in the security sweep in the vicinity of the town of Shuhail on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River and its outlying desert region.