Syrians protest U.S. presence in E. Syria

DAMASCUS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Scores of people in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Monday protested against the presence of the U.S. forces, state news agency SANA reported.

People in the city of al-Mayadeen staged a protest, holding up banners that denounced the U.S. occupation and expressed their support for President Bashar al-Assad.

The protest comes amid reports that the U.S. forces and their allied Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are amassing forces to attack areas controlled by the Syrian government forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor.

The aim of the potential attack is to reach the government-held cities of al-Mayadeen and al-Bukamal west of the Euphrates River, both largely controlled by Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed group backed by Iran, the Britain-based watchdog added.

The U.S. forces want to take control of both cities as they are allegedly conduits for moving weaponry from Iran through Iraq and Syria to the Hezbollah in Lebanon, it noted.

Skirmishes and drone attacks between the U.S. forces and Iran-backed fighters, which the Syrian government hailed as forces of resistance against the U.S. occupation, have recently intensified.