Cook says the warnings were communicated to the Syrians through the Russian military.
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American fighter jets were sent to the area where the Syrian jets conducted the airstrikes Thursday, but by the time the USA planes arrived the Syrian forces had flown away.
According to a source from the Syrian city of Al-Qamishli situated nearby, Armenians in Hasakah are relatively safe.
Manbij had acted as a landing and sorting station for many ISIS foreign fighters after they entered into Syria from Turkey, U.S. officials said, making the information vital to understanding the workings of ISIS’s foreign fighter network.
While the YPG controls most of the northeast, the Syrian government has maintained footholds in the cities of Hasaka and Qamishli at the border with Turkey. Kurdish forces have asked the pro-government militias in the city to either surrender or face death, Kurdish forces and residents were quoted by Reuters as saying.
As soon as the strikes began, Kurdish ground forces unsuccessfully tried to hail the pilots via radio.
Twice in the last few days, Syrian jets performing air strikes close to where US SOF are operating in northeastern Syria caused coalition aircraft to scramble. The unprecedented strikes prompted the US-led coalition to scramble aircraft to protect its special operations forces helping the Kurdish fighters.
Saying the US will do what is needed to protect coalition forces, Davis added, “The Syrian regime would be well advised not to do things that would place them at risk”. “We view instances that place the coalition at risk with the utmost seriousness and we do have the inherent right of self-defense”.
The Pentagon said the strikes appear to have been launched by the Syrian government.
“The overwhelming majority of the city is under the control of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Asayish, apart from the security zone”, said Naser Haj Mansour, the Kurdish official, adding that some fighting was still underway.
Hasaka’s governor told state media after the flare-up of violence the military had armed the YPG with weapons and tanks to fight jihadist elements but had not expected them to turn against them.
Coalition aircraft were sent to the area, Davis said, but by the time they reached the airspace around Hasakah, the Syrian planes were departing. Sending more u-s aircraft into the area to patrol the skies.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on August 20 that the bombing raids by the Syrians showed that Damascus was starting to see Kurdish attempts to gain territory in northern Syria as “a threat”.
The Observatory said thousands of inhabitants had begun to flee Hasakeh, where bread was running out and electricity supplies have been cut.
A Kurdish journalist who is in Hassakeh, Heybar Othman, told the BBC that it was the first time the Syrian government had used air power against the city.
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The YPG has emerged as a major fighting force in northern Syria in the past two years, becoming a key ally of the US-led coalition against IS.
