New fighting broke out overnight between Kurdish and regime forces in the flashpoint northern Syrian city of Hasakeh, a monitor said on Monday, as Russian officials pursued mediation efforts. The powerful YPG militia has captured nearly all of east Ghwairan, the only major Arab neighbourhood still in government hands.
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By taking Jarablus themselves, the rebel groups would preclude an assault on the town by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish-dominated militias who on August 6 took the city of Manbij, 20 miles (30km) to the south, from IS.
Kurdish sources said on Sunday that no deal had been finalised. The airstrikes mark the first time since the start of the country’s civil war in 2011 that Syrian government warplanes targeted a majority Kurdish enclave.
The U.S. -led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria views the Syrian Kurds as its most potent fighting partner, using them for ground operations as well as logistical assistance, such as locating enemy positions for airstrike operations. Jarablus, located on the western bank of the Euphrates River, is the last significant town held by ISIL on Syria’s border with Turkey.
“The Kurds are saying that they’re not going to sign any agreement in the future with [President] Bashar al-Assad, and that it’s just going to be a matter of hours or days before Hasaka is under their control”.
The YPG is a major ally of the US-led coalition in the drive against the Islamic State (Isis).
It controls swathes of territory along the northeastern border with Turkey – from Hasaka to Afrin – which its political wing has claimed as an autonomous region now called Rojava.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday talks between the United States and Russian Federation on military cooperation in the fight against IS in Syria were nearing an end, with technical teams meeting this week to discuss details.
Syrian state media accuses the YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish of violating a ceasefire. Turkey is now allowing a rebel Syrian force under the banner of the Free Syrian Army to assemble on its soil for an attack on an IS-held town, seeking to deny control to the YPG.
Late on Sunday night, Kurdish forces distributed leaflets across Hasaka and used mosque loudspeakers to call on army personnel and pro-government militias to hand over their weapons or face death. “This battle is decided and we will not retreat”.
In one very well-known episode, F-22 stealth jets providing HVAAE (High Value Air Asset Escort) to a US Predator flew under the Iranian F-4E Phantoms that had intercepted the drone then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and radioed a famous “you really ought to go home” that allegedly scared the Iranian pilots off saving the drone.
A local journalist working for AFP said he saw members of the pro-government National Defence Forces militia retreating from Al-Nashwa.
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In an attempt to calm tensions, a delegation of Russian officials arrived in Qamishli on Saturday from the coastal Hmeimim military airport for talks with the two sides. About 300 United States military operate in the same area, training Kurdish forces who are fighting Daesh.
