The fighting between Kurdish fighters and government forces in the city intensified as government warplanes bombed Kurdish-controlled positions in Hassakeh on Thursday, a move that could worsen the country’s deadly war.
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Since Wednesday, August 17, clashes between the two forces have rocked the city, leaving 23 civilians – including 9 children – and 16 combatants dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
All US SOF safe in N. Syria, after its planes bomb nearby. He underscored it is well known that US forces are in the area.
The powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said it would “not be silent” over government attacks including air strikes in the city of Hasaka, calling them an act of flagrant aggression, Yedioth Ahronoth announced.
“We immediately contacted the Russians. via our established channel used for de-confliction of airspace and to ensure the safety of coalition forces and their counter-ISIL efforts, and they assured us the aircraft were not Russian”, he said.
Russian-made aircraft flying over Hasakah attacked a region where US troops were training and assisting local fighters.
The “MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] channel” was established to ensure air safety between the USA and Russian Federation shortly after Moscow began an independent air campaign in Syria last September.
Previous tension occurred between the Syrian forces and the Kurds, but both parties contained the situation to avoid further confrontations.
No coalition forces were harmed in Thursday’s Syrian airstrikes, Pentagon spokesman Maj.
Naser Haj Mansour, a Kurdish official in the YPG-affiliated Syria Democratic Forces alliance, said Kurdish forces had taken some additional positions including an economics college.
Knowing Russia’s strong support for the regime of Syrian President Assad, Davis said a message was sent for them to pass along to the Syrian military “stating our intent to take whatever action is necessary”.
Faysal Itani, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, said it was easy for the Syrian government to avoid bombing large bases, but far more risky to strike areas close to YPG forces being trained by USA forces. The statement said the military’s response was “appropriate” and that futher attacks would be met with force. In major cities like Hasaka and Qamishli, however, government and Kurdish groups have been tacitly sharing control.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Forces of Syria (DSF), which is dominated by the YPG, said it was handing over control of Minbij to local forces.
The partnership has been a continuing irritant in the relationship between the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey, which considers the YPG an extension of Turkey’s Kurdish separatists, with whom Turkey is at war. Russian Federation recently began using an Iranian airbase in Hamedan to attack Syria.
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The two cities are divided between militia-controlled Arab and Kurdish portions, the latter held by the People’s Protection Units, YPG by its Kurdish initials.
