At least 15 dead in cluster bomb attack in eastern Syria

At least 15 people were killed in an airstrike in eastern Syria on Wednesday, activists said, in the second attack in three days reported to kill civilians in the Islamic State-held Euphrates River valley.

Two Syrian monitoring groups, Deir Ezzor 24 and Justice For Life, said the weapons were dropped on the village of Doblan by an unidentified jet. Russian, Syrianand U.S.-led coalition aircraft are all known to operate in the area.

Cluster bombs are designed to spread small bomblets across a wide area, but many fail to explode, endangering civilians long after the fighting has ended.

• Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says dozens killed in U.S.-led airstrike on ISIS prison

Omar Abou Layla, head of Deir Ezzor 24, said 15 bodies, including women and children, were recovered in the village. He said residents expect to find many more killed.

Ali Rahbe, of Justice For Life, said local informants counted at least 35 dead in the village, which is between the ISIS strongholds of al-Mayadeen and Boukamal.

At least 57 people were killed in an airstrike on an ISIS-run jail in the Euphrates River Valley on Monday. Activists said that airstrike was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition. The coalition said it was looking into the reports.

Most of the victims were prisoners held on charges of religious infractions, such as failing to observe the Ramadan fast, said Rahbe. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 civilians were killed.

Though ISIS is on the retreat, it still holds approximately 250 kilometresof territory along the Euphrates River in Syria, which has come under immense pressure as rival U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces and Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government forces race for control of the resource-rich region.

Monitoring groups warn that civilians are under attack. A UN commission of inquiry called the civilian death toll of the U.S.-backed campaign for Raqqa "staggering." The Observatory says 231 civilians have been killed in coalition airstrikes on ISIS territory in eastern Syria in the last three months.

ISIS forces still in Raqqa

The top U.S. envoy for the international coalition met with members of a local council expected to administer Raqqa after ISIS forces are driven from the city.

A member of the Raqqa Civil Council, Abdullah el-Erian, told the Kurdish-run ANHA news agencythat Brett McGurk's visit Wednesday is an "important message" as the U.S- backed fight to seize Raqqa continues. The two-hour meeting took place in Ayn Issa, a town about 50 kilometresnorth of Raqqa, where the council is based.

Another council member, Omar Alloush, said the publicized visit was to reaffirm the coalition's support for the stability of the liberated areas in Raqqa, including clearing land mines and rehabilitating schools and power plants. Alloush said the council, now in charge of large swathes of liberated parts of the province, is also seeking international financial support as it prepares to replace ISIS.

"The people of Raqqa have paid dearly because of ISIS," saidAlloush, who is also a member of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the Kurdish-led forces.

The fight for Raqqa began in earnest in early June as Kurdish-led forces, backed by airstrikes from the international coalition, slowly advanced on several neighbourhoods of the city considered the de facto capital of the militant group.

The local council was formed in April, including Arab and Kurdish local leaders, and has been assuming its duties to administer liberated areas in the province.

Syrian, Turkish militaries hit rebel targets

On Wednesday, Syrian government forces pushed on with their assault against rebels holed up in the northeast corner of the capital and its suburbs, with a barrage of air and artillery strikes on the already devastated neighbourhoods of Jobar and Ein Terma. Years of airstrikes and heavy weapons fire have largely reduced the neighbourhoods to rubble, according to new footage from the government's military media.

Turkey's military meanwhile said it returned fire after an attack by Syrian Kurdish forces.

A statement Wednesday said the People's Protection Units, or YPG, fired on Turkish territory overnight with anti-aircraft weapons from Syria's Afrin region. Turkish artillery units returned fire, destroying the "detected targets."

The YPG is the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that is battling the Islamic State group inRaqqa. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast.

Turkey was angered by a U.S. decision last month to arm the Syrian Kurds, fearing the weapons will end up in the hands of Kurdish rebels in Turkey.