The incident Monday in the air above Hasakah, an area held by Syrian Kurdish forces battling ISIS, appears to be the closest military encounter yet between American and Syrian government forces in the two years since US jets began flying over Syria as part of a USA -led coalition’s fight against ISIS.
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In both instances, the United States tried to warn off the Syrians by relaying a message through the Russians that the planes were threatening US or USA -protected forces, Cook said.
Thursday’s close call prompted the USA -led coalition to begin patrolling the airspace over Hasakah, and led to another incident Friday, in which two Syrian Su-24 bombers attempted to fly through the area but were met by coalition fighter jets, a US defense official said. U.S. special operations forces have been in the area for months conducting training and advisory missions with the Arab and Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the major USA ally in the region.
“We’ve said specifically we will protect coalition forces and our partnered operations” with such USA -backed opposition groups as the Syrian Arab Coalition and the Kurdish militia known as the YPG, or People’s Protection Units. They provide training and also serve as advisers on military operations, though the USA forces are not directly on the front lines.
Kurdish militias launched an assault on Hasakeh Monday night in order to push regime forces out of the last areas of the key Syrian city they still control, Reuters reports.
Washington regards them as the most effective fighting force on the ground in Syria and has provided weapons and special forces advisers.
The fighting in Hasakeh has also drawn in the Syrian army and the powerful Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The USAF F-22 RAPTOR Stealth Fighter is an unbelievable flying machine as demonstrated her in this video. The U.S.is pinning its hopes for reducing violence on talks about a political agreement with Russia, Syria and worldwide powers.
In Friday’s aerial encounter, the USA pilots tried to contact the Syrian pilots by radio but there was no response.
“We’re going to continue to provide support and provide defensive support in particular to forces on the ground engaged in the ISIL fight, and particularly those forces that are partnered up with the coalition forces”, he said, using another acronym for ISIS.
The US jets tried to contact the Syrian aircraft but there was no response, the official said.
Kurdish forces have expanded their control of the city despite the bombing of several locations by Syrian jets.
Deadly clashes erupted between pro-government militia and the US-backed Kurdish forces on Wednesday.
Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said that as far as he was aware, Thursday’s mission was the first time that coalition aircraft had been scrambled to respond to an incident involving Syrian government aerial bombardment.
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Until now the government and Kurdish militia group have mostly avoided confrontation.
