The clashes took place in the area of Al-Sukhneh, between Palymra and Deir ez-Zor, on Monday.
The Syrian air force mounted "a number of airstrikes targeting Daesh movements in the eastern Badiya, specifically on one of the dirt roads leading to the town of Al-Sukhneh and southeast of the town", Reuters reported, citing a military source.
Recently, some 200 of the Takfiri militants surrendered in Baghouz after a ferocious battle on the weekend, but around 1,000 may still be holding out, reports suggest.
The Syrian army recaptured Sukhneh from Daesh in 2017 as it pushed the militants back across central Syria in an advance along the crucial desert highway from Palmyra to Deir ez-Zor.