Terrorist attacks in Deir Ezzor, Syria, killed 10 oil field workers, Syrian news agency SANA said Friday a day after US-backed Syrian forces announced that they would be launching a counter-terrorist operation.

Syrian news agency SANA gave a toll of 10 dead in the "terrorist attack that targeted three buses transporting workers" from Al-Taim oil field.

Bassam Tohme, the minister of oil and mineral resources, explained that the Syrian people are experiencing an oil crisis and that the American occupation, through its mercenaries and terrorist organizations, wants to cut off the supply of oil that meets the country's basic needs. As a result, they carried out this egregious attack on the shifts of workers at the al-Tayyem field at the al-Furat Company.

Earlier, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that Turkey is in talks with Russia to use Syria's airspace to conduct a cross-border operation against the US-backed Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) in northeastern Syria.

Two weeks ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed during a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that it is "important to clear the (Kurdish fighters) from the border to a depth of at least 30 kilometers," noting it was "a priority".

In early December, Erdogan said Turkey will be completing the security strip along its southern border, which is 30 kilometers deep into Syrian territory.

On November 20, Akar announced that Turkey launched the "Operation Claw-Sword" offensive against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq and Syria.

The Turkish Defense Ministry claimed that the offensive was carried out in line with the right of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country is committed to destroying PKK "until its last militant is neutralized" and raised the possibility of conducting a ground operation soon, blaming the Kurdish militants for the November attack that killed six people in Istanbul.