Kurdish fighters now control 90 percent of the city after seizing the central prison, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.
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The battle over Hasaka marks the most violent confrontation between the Kurdish YPG militia and Damascus in more than five years of civil war, and victory would be a major boost for the Kurds despite Turkish efforts to curb their gains.
Kurdish forces, known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG), have made new advances against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, reports said.
Regime and Kurdish forces share a common enemy in the Islamic State (IS) jihadi group, but tensions have been growing between the two sides in Hasakeh leading to the latest clashes.
The Kurdish Hawar News Agency says government forces and pro-government militias have agreed to withdraw from Hasakeh and leave it in under the control of the local Kurdish police force, the Asayish, as part of the terms of the cease-fire.
He described the outcome as a “step forward” for the Kurdish groups that want a federal solution to the Syrian war to safeguard their autonomy.
Clashes erupted last week between the Asayesh and the pro-government National Defense Forces militia (NDF).
YPG-controlled areas of northern Syria include an uninterrupted 400 km (250 mile) stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border from the eastern frontier with Iraq to the Euphrates river, and a pocket of territory in northwestern Syria.
Turkish media are saying that Turkey’s artillery has shelled Islamic State targets across the border in Syria.
On Monday, Turkish artillery attacked a US -backed Syrian Kurdish militia as well as IS positions in Syria.
The United States would protect not only coalition advisers, but also partner forces on the ground – in this case Kurdish fighters. “The plan is to take Jarablus and expand south.so as to abort any attempt by the Kurds to move north. and so that Kurds don’t take more villages”, he said. One of the Kurdish officials said the deal was concluded on Monday evening “via worldwide parties”.
Hasaka’s governor told state media after the flare-up of violence the military had armed the YPG with weapons and tanks to fight Islamist elements but had not expected them to turn against them.
It said the Kurds and regime would also exchange any detainees or wounded, and reopen roads blocked off during fighting.
When asked if the policy constituted the USA placing a no-fly zone over its forces and partners, Cook replied by saying “you can label it what you want”.
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The leader of the newly declared “Jarablus military council”, set with the aim of mounting its own campaign to seize Jarablus with SDF support, was assassinated on Monday, the Observatory said. A Kurdish official said two “agents of Turkey” had been detained over the killing.
