DUBAI (Reuters) -U.S. forces carried out a "large airborne operation" near Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria on Monday at dawn, Syrian state news agency SANA said.

       The American forces landed in the town of Busayra, east of Deir al-Zor, and "kidnapped a number of civilians", it said.

       There was no independent confirmation of the report.

       The province of Deir al-Zor, along the Iraqi border, is a strategic supply route for Iranian-backed militias who regularly send reinforcements into Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad against insurgents seeking to topple his family rule.

       U.S. forces are deployed at a base in al-Tanf region, south of Deir al-Zor, as part of combat mission against Islamic State militants who continue to wage a low-level insurgency in Iraq and Syria.

       (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Philippa Fletcher)