Press TV- More than a dozen have lost their lives when a powerful explosion ripped through Syria�s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr near the border with Iraq, a monitor group says.�

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in the UK, reported that a car rigged with explosives went off at a water station in the town of Bsaira in the northern countryside of the province, located 450 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus,�leaving at least 18 people dead.

The Observatory added that half of the casualties were militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are backed by the US.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called US-backed SDF militants "traitors"�to the Syrian nation, but left the door open for�negotiations with them as he announced "two options" in dealing with the issue during an�interview in May.
�The first one: we started now opening doors for negotiations, because the majority of them are Syrians, supposedly they like their country, they don't like to be puppets to any foreigners.�If not, we�re going to resort ... to liberating those areas by force,� Assad said.
The Syrian leader said the US �is losing its cards� as the militant groups it supports have lost significant ground following�the liberation of Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr, Homs, and Damascus suburbs.
�The main card was al-Nusra that was called �moderate.� But when the scandal started leaking, that they are not moderate, they are al-Qaeda ..., they (the Americans) looked for another card.�This card is the SDF now,� Assad said.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

Russia has been helping Syrian forces in an ongoing battle in the province of Dayr al-Zawr as Daesh struggles to keep its last positions in eastern Syria.

The Russian military assistance, which began in September 2015 at the official request of the Syrian government, has proved effective as the Syrians continue to recapture key areas from Daesh and other terrorist groups across the country with the backing of Russia�s air cover.

On May 21, the�General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces announced in a statement that complete security was restored to Damascus and its countryside after al-Hajar al-Aswad district and al-Yarmouk camp had been totally purged of Daesh terrorists.

The development was preceded by flushing the Takfiris out of the towns of Yalda, Babbila and Beit Sahem on the southern outskirts of Damascus.