So now USA fighter jets, operating entirely illegally in Syrian airspace, decimating the Syrian people, towns, cities, villages, archeological sites, hospitals, schools, factories and infrastructure accuse the Syrian Air Force of being “foreign military aircraft”.
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In light of regime airstrikes targeting the YPG close to nearby US troops, the Pentagon (headquarters of the US Department of Defense) warned the Assad regime Friday to not attack near US forces, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Back in “I can not believe what I am reading” land, the Daily Telegraph reports that the USA has warned Syrian Air Force ‘planes flying over Hasakah – capital city of Al-Hasakah Governorate in the far north-east of the country, eighty km south of the Turkish border – “against any new strikes that might endanger its military advisers …” That led to American warplanes being scrambled to protect them, though the Syrian aircraft had left the area by the time the USA planes arrived. It was unclear whether the aircraft had carried out bombing runs.
By taking Jarablus themselves, the rebel groups would preclude an assault on the town by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish-dominated militias who on August 6 took the city of Manbij, 20 miles (30km) to the south, from IS.
It said the government had rejected a Kurdish demand for pro-regime militiamen to withdraw from Hasakeh, instead proposing that both sides disarm.
The regime and Kurdish forces share a common enemy in the Islamic State (IS) militant group, but there have been growing tensions between them in Hasakeh.
New fighting broke out overnight between Kurdish and regime forces in the flashpoint northern Syrian city of Hasakeh, a monitor said on Monday, as Russian officials pursued mediation efforts.
The strike came close to US Special Forces operators, who were embedded with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), comprised of the Kurdish YPG and local Arab militias. “We will ensure their safety and the Syrian regime would be well-advised not to do things that place them at risk”, he said, stressing that the U.S. has the “inherent right of self-defense”. “We view instances that place the coalition at risk with the utmost seriousness and we do have the inherent right of self-defense”.
The Kurdish YPG militia holds wide areas of northern Syria, where its political allies have set up an autonomous government since Syria’s civil war began in 2011.
Two Syrian Su-24 Fencer attempting to fly over a Kurdish-held area in northeastern Syria where U.S. SOF (Special Operations Forces) are operating, get intercepted by U.S. F-22 and encouraged to depart the airspace. “No weapons were fired by the coalition fighters”.
He declined to say which coalition forces tried to reach the Syrians.
Karns said the jets providing combat air patrols include F-15Es, F-16s and F-18s.
A Syrian military statement said the army had taken the “appropriate response” after Kurdish forces attacked Hasakeh. The relentless harrying of Hasakeh left 41 people dead, i25 of them civilians with 10 children among them, and sent thousands fleeing from the city, where electricity has been cut and bread is running out.
Washington regards them as the most effective fighting force on the ground in Syria and has provided weapons and special forces military advisers. According to USA officials, the American forces were moved to a safer position after the attack, but weren’t pulled entirely from the theater.
Separately, two Russian ships in the Mediterranean launched long-range cruise missiles for the first time since December against jihadist targets in Syria on Friday, the Russian defence ministry said. Russian Federation recently began using an Iranian airbase in Hamedan to attack Syria.
More than 300 civilians have been killed in a three-week surge of fighting and bombardment in Syria’s devastated Aleppo city, a monitoring group said on Saturday.
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Another 168 civilians died in Russian and regime air strikes and shelling on its rebel-controlled eastern neighbourhoods, the Observatory said.
