“In developing a closer relationship with Syria, one has to take into account the changes at hand in Syria and the region, including the fast recovering relations between Turkey and Russian Federation”, said Wang Lian of the School of International Studies at Peking University. The group has ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey.
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Faysal Itani, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, said it was easy for the Syrian government to avoid bombing large bases but far more risky to strike areas close to YPG forces being trained by the coalition.
Faysal Itani, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, said it was easy for the Syrian government to avoid bombing large bases, but far more risky to strike areas close to YPG forces being trained by US forces.
People in the north-eastern Syrian city say government warplanes have hit Kurdish districts there for the past two days.
Sailors prepare to secure two F/A-18E Super Hornets to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Persian Gulf, July 29, 2016.
When government forces pulled away from Kurdish regions to concentrate on fighting rebels elsewhere in mid-2012, control was quickly taken by Kurdish militias directed by the YPG. U.N.’s special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura hailed the Russian decision. A journalist in Hasakeh said on Saturday afternoon that the clashes had abated.
Around two-thirds of Hasakeh is controlled by Kurdish forces, but the rest is in the hands of pro-government militia. Turkey, Kozak said, “ranks the Kurdish threat above the Syrian regime threat”.
In what some defense analysts are calling a serious escalation of the Syrian civil war, Syria’s air force bombed Kurdish units with embedded American advisors.
In a statement on Thursday, the YPG said the regime was trying to undermine SDF and YPG successes in Manbij. The government, which opposes Syrian Kurdish autonomy, has yet to speak about this week’s fighting during which it has used the air force against Kurdish groups for the first time. Washington’s decision to scramble its fighter jets “was done as a measure to protect coalition forces”, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.
Defence officials said the Syrian planes were leaving as the coalition aircraft arrived, meaning they did not engage in combat, but that the USA would not hesitate to defend its forces.
The Observatory also reported residents were fleeing the city and that clashes picked up in the afternoon again.
Knowing Russia’s strong support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Davis said a message was sent for them to pass along to the Syrian military “stating our intent to take whatever action is necessary”.
Meanwhile Moscow has released videos showing Russian warships in the Mediterranean firing missiles it says targeted the Islamist Jabhat group in Syria, formerly known as al-Nusra.
More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011. The YPG has controlled most of Hasaka city since past year.
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In the central province of Homs, 20 civilians including at least five children died overnight in suspected regime air raids and artillery fire on a cluster of towns and villages, the Observatory said yesterday.
