BEIRUT: Al Qaida-linked fighters on Friday attacked a key central Syrian village at the crossroads between areas under government control and those controlled by insurgent groups, opposition activists said.

In eastern Syria, meanwhile, 15 civilians, including children, were killed when a missile slammed into a government-held neighbourhood in the city of Deir al Zour on Thursday evening.

The attack on the village of Abu Dali in central Hama province was led by Al Qaida-linked Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham, also known as HTS. It came two weeks after insurgents attacked a nearby area where three Russian soldiers were wounded.

Meanwhile, Russian-backed Syrian regime forces on Friday broke into the eastern town of Mayadeen, one of Daesh’s last bastions in the country.

“With support from Russian aviation, regime forces entered Mayadeen and took control of several buildings in the west of the town” in the eastern province of Deir Al Zour, Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. And Russian air strikes killed 14 civilians as they were crossing the Euphrates river near the militant-held town of Mayadeen in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

“They were crossing the river on makeshift rafts in a village south of Mayadeen,” Rahman said, adding that three children were among those killed overnight.

Also on Friday, the Russian military accused the United States of turning a blind eye and effectively providing cover to Daesh’s operations in an area in Syria that is under US control.

Earlier this week, Russia’s military claimed the leader of the Al Qaida-linked group was wounded in a Russian air strike and had fallen into a coma. The military offered no evidence on the purported condition of Abu Mohammad Al Golani.

The Al Qaida-linked group subsequently denied Al Golani was hurt, insisting he is in excellent health and going about his duties as usual.

Al Qaida-linked fighters have been gaining more influence in the northwestern province of Idlib and northern parts of Hama province where they have launched attacks on rival militant groups, as well as areas controlled by the government.

The village of Abu Dali had been spared much of the violence and had functioned as a local business hub between rebel-run areas and those under President Bashar Al Assad’s forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Al Qaida fighters captured several village tribesmen following the attack in the early hours of Friday. The HTS-linked Ibaa news agency did not mention the attack but said Russian warplanes were bombing areas the group controls in northern Syria.

Violence in eastern Syria has escalated significantly in recent weeks as Syrian troops with the help of Russian air cover are closing in on Mayadeen, a new Daesh stronghold after Daesh came under attacks in the cities of Raqqa and Deir Al Zor.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said troops are marching south from Deir Al Zor toward Mayadeen under the cover of air strikes.

The DeirEzzor 24 monitoring group said the missile in the air strike on Thursday evening that killed 15 had hit near a school in the Qusour neighbourhood. Three children and three women were among those killed, the group said Friday, blaming Daesh for the attack. The school and a nearby residential building were destroyed.

The Observatory also reported the incident, putting the number of civilians killed at 13. Both the Observatory and DeirEzzor 24 also reported that an air strike hit the village of Mehkan, just south of Mayadeen, and said it killed several families.

Syrian troops have broken a nearly three-year siege on parts of Deir Al Zor last month and are fighting to liberate from Daesh remaining parts of the city.

In Russia, the military said one of its helicopters had made an emergency landing in Syria, but its crew was unhurt.

According to the Defence Ministry, the Mi-28 helicopter gunship landed in Hama province on Friday due to a technical malfunction. The two crewmen were not injured and were flown back to base. The ministry said the helicopter was not fired upon.

The ministry’s statement followed a claim by Daesh-linked Aamaq news agency, which said that a Russian helicopter was downed south of Shaikh Hilal village in Hama.

The Defence Ministry’s spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said Daesh terrorists have used the area around the town of Tanf near Syria’s border with Jordan — where US military instructors are also stationed — to launch attacks against the Syrian army.

The area has become a “black hole,” posing a threat to Syrian army’s offensive against Daesh in eastern Deir Al Zor province, he added.

The Russian accusations likely reflect rising tensions as US-backed Syrian forces and the Russian-backed Syrian army — both of which are battling Daesh — race for control of oil and gas-rich areas of eastern Syria.