Scores of residents of the northeastern Syrian city of Hassakeh took advantage Friday of a lull in fighting between Kurdish forces and Syrian government troops to flee to safer areas nearby, after fighting intensified the previous day with government warplanes bombing Kurdish-controlled positions in the city for the first time, Kurdish officials and activists said. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the incident was not an intercept and the coalition aircraft reached the area by the time the Syrian government warplanes were leaving.
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Davis also said he believes this is the first time the US has scrambled aircraft in response to an incident like this involving Syrian government bombings.
The US Defense Department said in a statement that coalition forces had been put at risk.
There are about 300 US special operators and support troops on the ground in Syria, where they are serving as trainers and advisers for the local partner forces fighting the Islamic State group.
Indeed, Syrian government warplanes were in the air again Saturday over the flashpoint northeastern city of Hasakeh, despite a US warning against new strikes that might endanger its military advisers, Agence France Presse reported.
None of the US or coalition troops were injured or otherwise impacted Thursday by the Syrian airstrikes, Davis said. They did speak with Russian commanders, however, who assured USA forces they were not responsible for the attacks.
The city and surrounding areas came under the control of militias led by the YPG in 2012 after regime forces withdrew from the predominantly Kurdish region to focus on fighting rebels elsewhere in Syria.
A confrontation between American and Syrian fighter jets was narrowly avoided on Thursday, the United States military says.
Despite its affiliate group, the PKK, being on the U.S. terror list, the YPG has been backed by the USA in the fight against the DAESH terrorist organisation in Syria. According to US officials, the American forces were moved to a safer position after the attack, but weren’t pulled entirely from the theater. The Observatory says at least 13 people, including children and women, have been killed as a result of shelling by the army on Kurdish-controlled areas of Hasaka.
File picture of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters taking up positions inside a damaged building in al-Vilat al-Homor neighborhood in Hasaka city, as they monitor the movements of Islamic State fighters who are stationed in Ghwayran neighborhood in Hasaka city, Syria July 22, 2015.
The northeastern city has been rocked by deadly clashes between US-backed Kurdish forces and fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since Wednesday.
On the other hand, though Assad has been much more successful in the war since Russian Federation entered last November, it might not make much sense for him to fight with the USA directly, especially since the YPG is not the threat to his regime that some rebel groups are.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says the Serpukhov and the Zeleny Dol corvettes launched three long-range Kalibr cruise missiles on Friday at Syria’s al-Qaida branch, formerly known as the Nusra Front.
The situation threatens to bring the worldwide coalition into direct conflict with Assad’s forces for the first time since U.S. planes started an anti-Isis bombing campaign in September 2015.
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“The services and administrative institutions should stay to coordinate with the new federal system for northern Syria and Rojava”, he added.
