Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said on August 19 that US forces have increased combat air patrols near Al-Hasakah and warned Damascus that Washington will defend coalition troops from attacks.
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The Syrian government strikes, he said, “did not directly impact our forces”.
The YPG, known as the People’s Protection Units and which has ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party, appeared intent on leaving a nominal Syrian government presence confined to within a security zone in the heart of the city, where several key government buildings are located, Kurdish sources said.
When government forces pulled away from Kurdish regions to concentrate on fighting rebels elsewhere in mid-2012, control was quickly taken by Kurdish militias directed by the YPG. In the incident last Thursday, U.S. warplanes scrambled against Syrian aircraft that had bombed in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah, where fighting had broken out between Kurdish forces and militias backed by the Syrian regime.
Thursday’s strikes were conducted by Syrian bombers SU-24 and have targeted the Kurdish forces who are trained under the supervision of United States special advisers.
Cook said the US relayed the warning to the Syrian regime through the Russian military.
Afterward, Davis said, “We immediately contacted the Russians … via our established [memorandum of understanding] channel used for de-confliction of airspace and to ensure the safety of coalition forces and their counter-ISIL efforts, and they assured us the aircraft were not Russian”.
Cook said the U.S.’s warning to the Syrian regime not to fly where USA forces are located in Syria was “not a no-fly zone”.
American fighter jets were sent to the area where the Syrian jets conducted the airstrikes, but by the time the USA planes arrived the Syrian forces had flown away.
“But. the Syrian regime would be wise to avoid areas where coalition forces have been operating”.
Asked if this was the closest encounter between US and Syrian forces Davis said “I’m hard pressed to think of another situation like it”.
“We’re going to defend our forces where they are”.
The Kurdish forces, violating the truce, entered the Ghwairan neighborhood in the northeastern Syrian city, which sparked new clashes between the two sides.
US President Barack Obama has authorised the deployment of special forces troops in Syria to support local militias in the fight against IS, but he has repeatedly ruled out sending ground forces to the conflict.
Separately, two Russian ships in the Mediterranean launched long-range cruise missiles against jihadist targets in Syria on Friday, the Russian defence ministry said.
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Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the “Arab Spring” uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.
