The incident illustrates the dangers faced by some 300 US commandos on the ground in northern Syria advising the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of mostly Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State.
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But it illustrated the increasingly tense and ambiguous Syrian battlefield, where aircraft and ground troops from multiple countries – with multiple agendas and loyalties – are fighting overlapping wars.
For the second time in two days, Syrian fighter jets on Friday attempted to fly over a Kurdish-held area of northeastern Syria where USA special operations troops are operating, but flew away after being met by American F-22 fighters.
Fighting had broken out earlier this week between Kurdish forces and the pro-regime National Defense Forces (NDF) militia in Hasakah, and the Syrian army issued a statement declaring it had “responded appropriately” to Kurdish attempts to conquer the city.
On Thursday, August 18, the United States sent fighter jets to head off air strikes conducted by regime planes and to protect coalition advisers, but the Syrian planes had left by the time they arrived. And in an apparent concession to Ankara, a Syrian military statement and Hasakeh’s governor began referring to Kurdish security forces for the first time as the PKK, which has taken up arms against the Turkish government seeking an independent state for Kurds. Trying to contact the Syrian aircraft, there was no answer.
After the fighting broke out this week, government warplanes bombed Kurdish-held areas of Hasaka, one of two cities in the largely Kurdish-held northeast where the government has maintained enclaves.
“This was done as a measure to protect coalition forces”, Captain Jeff Davis said.
USA aircraft will defend coalition forces on the ground, a Pentagon spokesman said tersely, and Syria’s military “would be well advised not to interfere”.
Russian warships have in the past launched cruise missiles at targets in Syria from both the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean.
He said the strikes “did not directly impact our forces” but they were “close enough that it gives us great pause”.
Davis also criticized the Assad government for suddenly attacking the YPG, which until recently served as its de facto ally against CIA-backed Islamist militias.
He said a small number of US commandos were in the area training and advising opposition Syrian Democratic Forces.
More than 250,000 people are estimated to have been killed in Syria since the civil war began in March 2011.
“We will ensure their safety and the Syrian regime would be well-advised not to do things that place them at risk”.
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If the USA and Syria were to fight directly, it would have profound effects on the US’s potential coordination with Russian Federation to fight jihadist groups, Russia’s cooperation with the YPG, and the potential for a political settlement to end the conflict. Speaking from Qamishli, he said that there were calls through mosques loudspeakers for the evacuation of civilians stuck in the areas of fighting. It is the second major eruption of fighting between the YPG and Syrian government fighters this year. The Observatory says at least 13 people, including children and women, have been killed as a result of shelling by the army on Kurdish-controlled areas of Hasaka.
