The Pentagon says the USA scrambled fighter aircraft Thursday to protect American special operations forces and allies near the northeastern Syrian city of Hassakeh, which was being bombed by Syrian government warplanes.
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Two-thirds of Hasaka are controlled by the Kurds and the rest by the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Ground fighting intensified late on Friday when Kurdish YPG fighters battled Syrian forces, whose air force flew sorties over the city, Kurds and monitors said.
It was Moscow’s first use of cruise missiles in Syria since December.
All US SOF safe in N. Syria, after its planes bomb nearby.
Fierce fighting broke out since Wednesday between pro-regime forces and Kurdish Police (Assayech) after mutual accusations of arrests, making 39 dead, according to Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH).
Davis’ barely veiled threat that the Pentagon could attack Syrian government forces to protect its troops, which are operating in Syria in violation of the country’s sovereignty and without even the fig leaf of a United Nations mandate, point to the basic war aims of Washington and its European allies.
The YPG has emerged as a major fighting force in northern Syria in the past two years, becoming a key ally of the US-led coalition against IS.
The US has increased air patrols in the area, Davis said.
The YPG fighters captured several areas, including the wheat silos and the economics college, he said, adding that the Kurdish troops were advancing in the central neighborhoods of Ghweiran and Nashwa.
“The KNC has already called for that and said to them: you don’t need to go so far in Arabs’ cities such as Manbij or Al-Bab, you should start from Qamişlo [major Kurdish city] to kick out the regime, but it is a bit complicated and needs strategic change, and I don’t think will happen in the next few days or months”, he said. It was not immediately clear how many are left, if any, in northern Syria. The U.S. subsequently confirmed that it was Syrian government aircraft that conducted the strikes.
The encounter occurred in airspace near Hasakah when two Syrian Su-24 aircraft “were met” by the two American F-22 fighters, the official said. The Syrian province of Hasakah, a Kurdish stronghold, Is now under siege by the Assad regime.
Syrian government warplanes were spotted over the flashpoint Syrian city of Hasakah again on Saturday, despite warnings from the US-led coalition that strikes could hit its military advisers working with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). On Tuesday, Russian bombers began flying missions in Syria from Hamedan air base in Iran.
“In developing a closer relationship with Syria, one has to take into account the changes at hand in Syria and the region, including the fast recovering relations between Turkey and Russian Federation”, said Wang Lian of the School of International Studies at Peking University.
Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish militia in Syria as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
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YPG spokesman Redur Khalil denounced Thursday’s government air raids on Hassakeh as an act of “suicide”, adding that Assad’s forces would be held accountable for these “brutal, blatant attacks against our people”. De Mistura called the evacuations, which are not common from besieged areas in Syria, a “positive step”.
