Clashes broke out last week after Kurds demanded the NDF be dismantled in Hasakeh, and violence escalated Thursday when regime warplanes began bombarding Kurdish-held positions in the city for the first time.
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The Pentagon said no coalition casualties were reported in Friday’s strikes by two Syrian SU-24s, and U.S. special operations advisers had been moved to a safe location. It was not immediately clear how many are left, if any, in northern Syria.
While the YPG controls most of the northeast, the Syrian government has maintained footholds in the cities of Hasaka and Qamishli at the border with Turkey. 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.
The US-led coalition scrambled planes near the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah, after Syrian SU-24 airplanes dropped bombs “dangerously near” the US Special Forces operators embedded with the Kurdish YPG militia in the area.
A truce has been reached between Syrian forces and Kurdish fighters in the volatile northeastern province of Hasakah under a Russian mediation, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported on Sunday.
Since Wednesday, clashes between the two forces have rocked the city, leaving 23 civilians – including nine children – and 16 combatants dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Fighting between a pro-government militia and Kurdish forces since August 17 has left at least 43 people dead including 27 civilians, among them 11 children, according to the Observatory.
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.
The YPG has denied participation in any meetings with Syrian officials, saying they would continue fighting until the last government-held areas of the city had been controlled.
Last week, the SDF, backed by USA airstrikes and Special Operations forces wrested the Syrian city of Manbij from the Islamic State.
Empty shells line the ground as a Kurdish fighter from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) walks toward al-Furat university in the Ghwairan neighborhood of Hasaka, Syria, Aug. 22, 2016. Coalition Special Operations forces, which have been advising Kurdish and Arab fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, were in the area, but none were injured.
Cook declined to say whether US aircraft are conducting routine combat air patrols in the airspace near USA forces.
“The Kurds now control 90 percent of the city”, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.
Washington regards them as the most effective fighting force on the ground in Syria and has provided weapons and special forces military advisers.
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Asked if this was the closest encounter between USA and Syrian forces Davis said “I’m hard pressed to think of another situation like it”.
