More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria s conflict erupted in March 2011.
Advertisement
Kurdish forces have asked the pro-government militias in the city to either surrender or face death, Kurdish forces and residents were quoted by Reuters as saying.
The YPG is a central part of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria and now holds large parts of the north of the country.
On Monday, US jets scrambled in a warning shot to the Syrian government not to carry out strikes on US-backed fighters or personnel.
But as the Syrian civil war continues, regime forces have turned their fire on Kurdish areas of Hasakah for the past two days, causing thousands of civilians to flee a series of air raids.
It said the Kurds and regime would also exchange any detainees or wounded, and reopen roads blocked off during fighting. “Our situation is so far defensive but it will change all the while the regime escalates in this way”.
Seth Jones: “If the USA ends up leaving because things get hot what it’s meant is they were essentially coerced to pull back by a combination one would strongly suspect of Syrian, Iranian and Russian efforts”.
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 ISIS-held town, seeking to deny control to the YPG.
“To all the elements of the regime and its militias who are besieged in the city you are targeted by our units”, leaflets distributed by the YPG said.
It included a “halt to all hostilities and the return to regime forces of any positions seized by Kurdish fighters” since Wednesday, the source said.
Washington regards them as the most effective fighting force on the ground against the jihadists in Syria and has provided them with air cover and military advisers. The Syrian and Russian air forces are routinely deployed in the war in western Syria. Ankara sees Syrian Kurdish militia as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has waged a bloody campaign against the Turkish state since 1984.
Political researcher Sulaiman al-Yusuf told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that it is not the first time that Syria witnesses such an escalation in conflicts and that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) attempt every now and then to expand in northern Syria and diminish the regime’s control there. Regime aircraft flew over Hasakeh early August 21, most of which is under Kurdish control, but without carrying out any bombing raids, the Observatory said.
It also stipulates that casualties would be transferred north to Qamishli.
What are United States special forces and what are they doing in Syria?
Advertisement
Rami Abdulrahman, Observatory director, said the fighting began this week after pro-government militiamen detained a number of Kurdish youths, a step that had followed advances by Kurdish security forces towards government-held areas.
