On Aug. 18, U.S. jets were dispatched to intercept the Syrian attack planes that were attacking targets near Hasakah supporting regime forces fighting the Syrian Kurdish forces.
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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. He also said he believes this is the first time the USA has scrambled aircraft in response to an incident like this involving Syrian government bombings.
As reported by ABC, a USA official said the presence of American F-22 aircraft “encouraged the Syrian aircraft to depart the airspace without further incident”. Babies, children, innocent people should not die.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on August 20 that the bombing raids by the Syrians showed that Damascus was starting to see Kurdish attempts to gain territory in northern Syria as “a threat”.
They said Kurdish forces began the offensive after midnight to take the southern district of East Nashwa, close to where a security compound is located, near the governor’s office.
In a separate incident, the Russian defence ministry said two of its ships in the Mediterranean launched long-range cruise missiles against extremist targets in Syria on Friday, for the fist time since December. Taken together, the new military moves appeared to be a demonstration that Russian Federation has the ability to strike from virtually all directions in a region where it has been reasserting its power – from Iran, from warships in the Caspian Sea, from its base in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia and now from the Mediterranean.
Mr Yildirim said Ankara would step up efforts to reduce “instability” in the region. He pledged to play a “more active” in the next months in putting an end to the conflict.
Deadly clashes erupted between pro-government militia and the US-backed Kurdish forces on Wednesday.
This is a serious gamble, with the Kurds appearing to rely on the idea that the United States will intervene to keep Syria from bringing air power into the mix.
Mr Yildirim said it was “out of the question” for Turkey to talk with the Syrian leader, and said regional countries Turkey and Iran, as well as Russian Federation and the United States must work towards a solution in Syria.
“This is a new situation”.
Buoyed by the support of the USA -led anti-terror coalition, the YPG and the allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have made sweeping victories against the Islamic State (IS) group, stripping the terror-designated militants of key areas in northern Syria. The relentless harrying of Hasakeh left 41 people dead, i25 of them civilians with 10 children among them, and sent thousands fleeing from the city, where electricity has been cut and bread is running out. The YPG militia had already seized Ghwairan, the only major Arab neighbourhood under government control.
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In the northern province of Aleppo, the scene of heavy clashes all month between government forces and rebels allied with jihadists, 28 civilians were among 38 people killed Saturday in strikes by the regime and its Russian allies, the Observatory said.
