“There were military operations”, a Kurdish official said.
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This week’s fighting in Hasaka, which is divided into zones of Kurdish and Syrian government control, marks the most violent confrontation between the YPG and Damascus in more than five years of civil war, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said.
Government forces were also bombarding Kurdish districts of Hasakah with artillery, and there were fierce clashes in the city.
At the time, reports emerged about a tacit agreement between the Kurds and the Syrian government.
Kurdish groups are working to develop their autonomy in northern Syria into a federal system of government – a plan opposed by President Bashar al-Assad.
Sources told Reuters the air strikes had hit YPG-held districts of the city, and the positions of the YPG security force known as the Asayish.
Fighting there could complicate the battle against Islamic State because of the Kurds’ pivotal role in the US -backed Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) fight against the group.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fighting also took place in several areas around Hasakah.
At least thirteen people, including children and women, were killed as a result of shelling by the army on Kurdish-controlled areas in the city, the monitor said.
It continued to charge that the Syrian regime “sees the defeat of the IS as a defeat for itself because they (regime forces) are still counting on the IS to achieve what is left of their dirty scheme”.
On Friday, warplanes from the USA -led coalition flew what the Pentagon called protective patrols around Hasaka to prevent Syrian jets from targeting US special forces, who are operating on the ground with the SDF, the first sorties of their kind in the war.
Earlier in the month, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif travelled to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials.
Both sides were later reported to have agreed a ceasefire.
Rami Abdulrahman, Observatory director, said the fighting began after pro-government militiamen detained Kurdish youths, a step that had followed advances by Kurdish security forces towards government-held areas.
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He said by telephone that relative calm prevailed Friday leading scores of people to flee the predominantly Kurdish city. Speaking from Qamishli, he said that there were calls through mosques loudspeakers for the evacuation of civilians stuck in the areas of fighting. “Every hand spattered with the blood of our people will be held to account through all possible and available means”, the statement said.
