The move by the Syrian regime, which also claims to be fighting against DAESH, has been defined as “very unsusual” by the Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis.
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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.
The Pentagon said no coalition casualties were reported in Friday’s strikes by two Syrian SU-24s, and United States special operations advisers had been moved to a safe location. “We’ve not seen the regime take this kind of action against YPG before”, said Davis using an acronym for Syrian Kurdish forces.
The northeastern city has been rocked by deadly clashes between US-backed Kurdish forces and fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since Wednesday.
“Turkey we will be more active in the Syria issue in the coming six months as a regional player”.
On Monday, Turkish artillery attacked a US -backed Syrian Kurdish militia as well as IS positions in Syria.
“We do not have [a] particular amount of victims but about 12 civilian people [were] killed and more than 33 injured”. 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 development prompted jets from the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq to intervene in order to protect Kurdish forces working alongside U.S. advisors, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.
The jets came within one mile of one another and were in visual contact before the Syrian jets left, the official said.
Thursday’s encounter occurred as two Syrian fighter jets dropped bombs outside of Hasakah, apparently in support of Syrian regime forces that were fighting the Syrian Kurdish forces.
A statement distributed to journalists by a Kurdish official said the agreement included “a ceasefire and the withdrawal of all armed forces from the city”.
The Observatory said thousands of inhabitants had begun to flee Hasakeh, where bread was running out and electricity supplies have been cut.
Turkish media are saying that Turkey’s artillery has shelled Islamic State targets across the border in Syria.
“We are not there yet, and the regime and Russia’s recent actions only make it harder to consider any potential coordination”, he said.
They also stressed the need for humanitarian aid in the city and demanded “that Iraqi Kurdistan ends it blockade against humanitarian aid immediately”, and open the border between the Kurdistan Region and Rojava, northern Syria.
The Kurdish YPG accused the “totalitarian regime in Hasaka” of conspiring with the Turkish government to undermine the Kurds’ democratic system.
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“A delegation of Russian officials and members of the (pro-regime militia) National Defence Forces (NDF) have arrived at Qamishli airport for a meeting tomorrow (Monday)”, a source from the Hasakeh governorate said.
