In another escalation of the five-year war, regime planes this week bombarded positions held by US -backed Kurdish forces in the city fighting the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
Advertisement
The Pentagon says the US scrambled fighter aircraft Thursday to protect American special operations forces and allies near the northeastern Syrian city of Hassakeh, which was being bombed by Syrian government warplanes.
Fighting between a pro-government militia and Kurdish forces since Wednesday has left at least 43 people dead including 27 civilians, among them 11 children, according to the Observatory. It was unclear whether the aircraft had carried out bombing runs.
The official indicated it was a relatively small number of USA forces that moved out of their locations.
It was on a major escalation of violence between the two camps, which share control of the city in northeast Syria.
IS controls most of the Euphrates valley to the south of Hasakeh, and tensions between regime and Kurdish forces have sometimes led to armed clashes in spite of their common jihadist enemy.
It was the first time the coalition had confirmed deploying warplanes against the Syrian air force.
As soon as Thursday’s strike began, ground forces tried to hail pilots via radio – to no avail.
The coalition made clear to the Russians to pass along to the Syrians that USA aircraft would defend troops on the ground if threatened, the captain said.
“We view instances that place coalition personnel at risk with the utmost seriousness, and we do have the inherent right of self-defense”, Capt. Davis said.
Almost half a dozen USA fighter jets have contributed to protecting the air space over Hasakah, Syria, after Syrian government warplanes conducted airstrikes there on Thursday, allegedly against Kurdish forces. “The presence of the aircraft effectively encouraged the Syrian aircraft to depart the airspace, without further incident”. While he would not specify from where the USA aircraft launched, the United States maintains a contingent of F-15 fighter jets specifically designed for air-to-air combat at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. A local journalist working for AFP said he saw members of the pro-government National Defense Forces militia retreating from Al-Nashwa, while a Russian mediation bid failed to halt clashes with pro-regime forces.
The Observatory said thousands of inhabitants had begun to flee Hasakeh, where bread was running out and electricity supplies have been cut.
On Friday, both sides continued trading artillery fire, residents said.
A direct clash between USA forces and Syria’s military would have led to unpredictable consequences, given Mr. Assad’s alliance with Iran and Russian Federation.
The U.S. has teamed with rebels to target militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and has called for the removal of Syrian President of Bashar al-Assad, while Russian supports the regime.
It was Moscow’s first use of cruise missiles in Syria since December.
Advertisement
“We don’t have [a] specific number of casualties but approximately 12 civilian people [were] killed and more than 33 injured”.
