Syrian state media blamed YPG for not abiding by a truce mediated by Russian Federation to evacuate injured regime soldiers from the city.
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This ends the fighting between the YPG and the military, at least for now, and seems to be setting the stage for further escalation to the west, where YPG-dominated forces recently captured the city of Manbij.
Pro-PYD terrorist organization websites said the ceasefire deal provides for the withdrawal of all Syrian regime forces from the city, in addition to assigning the police agency to guard the headquarters of the Syrian regime in a “security box”, along with the retention of PYD militants in areas they took last week. “They were very positive about that”, a YPG commander said.
The official told AFP that the powerful Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Syrian forces would withdraw from Hasakeh, while the police forces of both the Kurds and the government would remain.
Clashes continued Monday between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northeastern city of Hasaka amid reports of an ongoing effort by Russian Federation to reach a cease-fire agreement, activists and residents said.
Jarablus is a vital supply line and the last border point that directly connects the Islamic State group with Turkey and the outside world, and separates Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
Its effective ouster from Hasakah is a serious blow to Damascus, according to the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman.
A source in the city told Xinhua that the Kurds actually took control of several government positions, in their bid to shrink the government presence in that area to a small security zone.
At the time, reports emerged about a tacit agreement between the Kurds and the Syrian government.
Cook said the most recent warnings to Syria not to fly in areas near us troops were communicated through the Russian military, which is operating in support of the Syrian government in its fight against opposition forces, including the Islamic State militants. Turkey is now allowing a rebel Syrian force under the banner of the Free Syrian Army to assemble on its soil for an attack on an Islamic State-held town, seeking to deny control to the YPG.
The U.S. and Syria have no formal military-to-military relationship.
One official in the Kurdish autonomous administration said talks “via indirect mediation” were still discussing “the dissolution of the NDF in Hasakeh”. “… We’ve been clear … from the start”, the forces that are fighting the Islamic State group “will enjoy the support of the United States”.
On Friday, US planes showed up, apparently to contest Syria’s ability to target YPG fghters.
The Hurriyet newspaper and others say the mortar rounds, fired from IS-held Jarablus on Tuesday morning, hit the town of Karkamis, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province.
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The leader of the newly declared “Jarablus military council”, set up with the aim of mounting its own campaign to seize Jarablus with SDF support, was assassinated on Monday, the Observatory said.
