It was unclear whether the aircraft had carried out bombing runs.
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Cook extended the warning to “anyone else who may threaten our forces in that area”.
“There were heavy clashes, artillery fire and rocket attacks throughout the night and ongoing in the morning”, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The loss of Hasakeh would be a strategic blow to President Bashar Assad’s government and would be a setback for Russian Federation, which has given air support to Assad’s forces to prevent further territorial losses in the country.
“We, again, would advise them to steer clear in areas where we are operating”, he noted.
In Friday’s aerial encounter, the USA pilots tried to contact the Syrian pilots by radio but there was no response. He said the Syrian military would be “well-advised” not to interfere with US forces or their coalition partners fighting Islamic State in the country. According to USA officials, the American forces were moved to a safer position after the attack, but weren’t pulled entirely from the theater.
Davis said there are a small group of US commandos in the area training and advising Syrian Democratic Forces fighting to oust President Assad.
Although no weapons were fired, the incident is remarkable in that the USA forces felt the Syrian jets to be enough of a threat to United States personnel on the ground for the coalition’s military apparatus to swing into action.
Earlier on Friday the Pentagon had warned the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to not fly or conduct airstrikes in the area where American troops are operating. That led to American warplanes being scrambled to protect them, though the Syrian aircraft had left the area by the time the US planes arrived.
Two Syrian Su-24 jets struck Kurdish positions in and near Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.
Additional American air patrols have been flying over the Hasakah area today to assure the safety of American personnel on the ground. As the fighting escalated, Syrian warplanes bombed Kurdish forces.
“To all the elements of the regime and its militias who are besieged in the city you are targeted by our units”, leaflets distributed by the YPG said. That message was also relayed to Syria through regime-allied Russia, Cook said.
The U.S. -led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria views the Syrian Kurds as its most potent fighting partner, using them for ground operations as well as logistical assistance, such as locating enemy positions for airstrike operations.
Separately, two Russian ships in the Mediterranean launched long-range cruise missiles against jihadist targets in Syria, the Russian defense ministry said.
More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, and millions have been forced to flee their homes.
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The YPG has controlled most of Hasaka city since a year ago.
