They did speak with Russian commanders, however, who assured US forces they were not responsible for the attacks.
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The unprecedented strikes against six Kurdish positions in the northeastern city prompted the US-led coalition to scramble aircraft to protect USA special operations forces advisers deployed with the Kurdish forces.
“We view instances that place coalition personnel at risk with the utmost seriousness”, Davis added, “and we do have the inherent right of self-defense when USA forces are at risk”.
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.
As reported by ABC, a USA official said the presence of American F-22 aircraft “encouraged the Syrian aircraft to depart the airspace without further incident”.
Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said that as far as he was aware, Thursday’s mission was the first time that coalition aircraft had been scrambled to respond to an incident involving Syrian government aerial bombardment.
The US quickly sent fighter jets to the area, but by the time the US planes arrived, the Syrians were withdrawing.
The deployment of U.S. troops have been authorised by President Obama to back local militias fighting the self-styled Islamic State (ISIL) in Syria, but he has always ruled out sending ground forces to the conflict.
The following day, the regime launched its first ever air strikes against the Kurds.
A Syrian military statement said the army had taken the “appropriate response” after Kurdish forces attacked Hasakeh.
Since 2012, the Kurdish region has been administrated by local Kurdish forces after government troops largely withdrew to focus on fighting rebels elsewhere. The Syrian government strikes, he said, “did not directly impact our forces”. Davis said the Russians assured the U.S. it was not them.
The US had no radio contact with the Syrian airplanes.
Karns said the jets providing combat air patrols include F-15Es, F-16s and F-18s. “The regime is trying to conduct a demographic change now in Hasakah because most of the Kurds where forced to leave their homes due to the deteriorating security conditions”, he told ARA News.
Democratic Union Party (PYD)-linked the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (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.
They came after heavy clashes broke out on Wednesday between Kurdish fighters who control two-thirds of the city and pro-government militia who control the rest.
Coalition and USA special operations forces were in the area at the time, but no one was affected by the airstrikes and they are safe, he added.
The YPG and Syrian government have mostly avoided confrontation during the multi-sided war that has turned Syria into a patchwork of areas held by the state and an array of armed factions.
While frequent skirmishes have arisen in Hasakah and Qamishli between the YPG and the government-backed militias, “they haven’t escalated to a huge degree”, said Chris Kozak of the Institute for the Study of War. The YPG has controlled most of Hasakah city since previous year.
Asked if this was the closest encounter between United States and Syrian forces Davis said “I’m hard pressed to think of another situation like it”.
The majority of the area around Hasakah is held by Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group, but there are also pockets of Syrian regime forces in the area.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech Thursday that Ankara was “ready to move against the Kurds if they represent a threat to Turkey”.
Russian Federation and the Assad regime also say they are targeting Isis but class all opposition groups as “terrorists” and legitimate targets for their bombing raids. “Now, with Turkey and Russian Federation coming back together, that might be swinging the other way”. Until now, the Syrian regime had steered clear of where the Americans operate.
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A senior Obama administration official, asked about the warming Turkey-Russia relationship, denied any concern and said that “we’ve welcomed the de-escalation of tensions” between them.
