“This was done as a measure to protect coalition forces”, Captain Jeff Davis said.
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After days of intense fighting in Hasakeh, some fear the clashes there could usher in a new dimension to the Syrian war.
(Defense Tech) -The U.S. military on Friday dispatched two F-22 Raptors stealth fighter jets to intercept a pair of Syrian Su-24 Fencer aircraft that flew in the vicinity of Hasakah, Syria, according to news accounts citing an unnamed Pentagon official.
A direct clash between US forces and Syria’s military would have led to unpredictable consequences, given Mr. Assad’s alliance with Iran and Russian Federation.
United States fighter jets have been scrambled to stop Bashar al-Assad’s air force bombing U.S. special forces and anti-Isis allies on the ground as the Syrian conflict intensifies.
The journalist in Hasakeh said eight air strikes could be heard throughout the day, mostly focused in the city’s southwestern neighbourhoods. “They were nearby – close enough that it gives us great pause”. The Syrian Arab Army is the land element of Assad’s forces.
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. Early on Thursday, ground forces tried to contact the pilots to make them stop their strikes, but without success. Social-media reports indicated that several Kurds were killed in the bombing.
In Friday’s aerial encounter, the US pilots tried to contact the Syrian pilots by radio but there was no response.
The US had no radio contact with the Syrian airplanes.
The Observatory said that Syrian warplanes struck areas under control of Kurdish fighters in Hassakeh, adding that there was no immediate word on casualties.
Nasser Haj Mansour, of the predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces, said Syrian government warplanes and helicopters launched more attacks on areas controlled by Kurdish fighters Friday.
The main Kurdish force in Syria, known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, has been the main USA -backed force in Syria and the most effective force in fighting Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Hassakeh is mainly under the control of a Kurdish militia, the YPG. There was a small number of U.S. Special Operators acting as advisers to the YPG when the Syrian airstrikes began.
A confrontation between American and Syrian fighter jets was narrowly avoided on Thursday, the U.S. military says.
Turkey fears the Kurds’ drive against Islamic State is partly aimed at carving out a Kurdish region along its own southern border. He said it is a Pentagon policy not to provide the specific location of US troops in Syria.
Events during the week have also been cited to buttress additional theories about increasing Turkish cooperation with Russia after the healing of a rift between those two governments was consolidated by the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this month to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since Wednesday, clashes between the two forces have rocked the city, leaving 23 civilians – including nine children – and 16 combattants dead, the Observatory said. “Now, with Turkey and Russian Federation coming back together, that might be swinging the other way”. “Whoever can bear arms is fighting the regime and its gangs”, he said.
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The US would “take whatever action is necessary” to defend their troops, Davis also said.
