Capt Davis said no USA personnel were injured and that airspace would be closely monitored by extra patrols to ensure their safety, adding: “As we’ve said in the past, the Syrian regime would be well-advised not to interfere with coalition forces or our partners”.
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As allies of Assad, the Russians were asked to tell the Syrian government that U.S. aircraft would move in if their troops were threatened, Capt Davies said.
No coalition forces were harmed in Thursday’s Syrian airstrikes, Pentagon spokesman Maj. “It’s very unusual, we never saw the regime carry out such actions against the Kurdish forces before”, said Jeff Davis.
Deadly clashes erupted between pro-government militia and the US-backed Kurdish forces on Wednesday.
Most of Hasakeh city is controlled by Kurdish forces, while the rest is held by fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
The U.S. military scrambled its fighter planes on August 19 and flew over Al-Hasakah within about 1.5 kilometers of two Syrian SU-24 fighter jets in an effort to “encourage” them to leave the area, a U.S. defense official told CNN.
Davis called the entire situation “very unusual” and said the Pentagon was “hard pressed” to think of another time when Syrian forces came so close to attacking the U.S., even if that was not their intention.
The U.S.is pinning its hopes for reducing violence on talks about a political agreement with Russia, Syria and global powers.
“As we’ve said in the past, the Syrian regime would be well-advised not to interfere with coalition forces or our partners”, Davis said. More Syrian airstrikes were reported on Friday, but American pilots apparently did not witness any of them. They must also be frustrated when their American allies have a perfectly good air force that is doing nothing to protect them from either Russian Federation or Syria.
“The KNC has already called for that and said to them: you don’t need to go so far in Arabs’ cities such as Manbij or Al-Bab, you should start from Qamişlo [major Kurdish city] to kick out the regime, but it is a bit complicated and needs strategic change, and I don’t think will happen in the next few days or months”, he said.
Washington regards them as the most effective fighting force on the ground against the jihadists in Syria and has provided them with air cover and military advisers.
In a statement, the military command said the Asayish were aiming to take control of Hasaka city, and the army had responded appropriately by firing at armed groups’ “sources of fire”.
Thousands of civilians have fled the city, where electricity has been cut and bakeries shut.
The targets were linked to the former Al-Nusra Front, now Fateh al-Sham Front, the ministry said.
In the central province of Homs, 20 civilians including at least five children died overnight in suspected regime air raids and artillery fire on a cluster of towns and villages, the Observatory said Saturday.
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Civilians fled a city in northeastern Syria where government warplanes bombed Kurdish-held areas for a second day on Friday, as the Syrian army accused Kurdish forces of igniting the conflict by trying to take over the area.
