On Monday, the Pentagon warned the Syrian army against carrying out airstrikes in northern Syria, where the USA has Special Forces on the ground advising the YPG and SDF.
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“We’re going to defend our forces where they are”.
Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the Central Intelligence Agency in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Pressed to explain the difference between the no-go zone around coalition forces and the repeatedly floated protection zone, Cook said that it is in-line with long-standing policy to protect coalition forces working in “partnered operations”.
The U.S. -led anti-Islamic State (IS) coalition also scrambled warplanes in Hasakah on Monday, after bringing in reinforcement to one of its bases near the city, according to the Observatory, which says it relies on a network of activists on the ground inside Syria.
The official said the deal was brokered “under the auspices of Russian military officials” while Syrian state television confirmed the truce was reached on Tuesday afternoon.
The fighting this week in Hasaka, divided into zones of Kurdish and Syrian government control, marks the most violent confrontation between the Kurdish YPG militia and Damascus in more than five years of civil war.
The two sides agreed to exchange “bodies of the martyrs and captives” at 9 p.m. local time.
The military positions should return to their previous state, and negotiations are set to start on Monday at the Qamishli airport between representatives of both sides and Iranian and Russian mediators, according to the agreement.
Clashes erupted on Wednesday between the Kurdish police force known as the Asayesh and the pro-government National Defence Forces militia (NDF). Its initial task was to fill in the positions recaptured by the Syrian army.
Ankara, which its fighting militants from its own Kurdish minority, has begun to step up efforts to curb the growth of Kurdish influence in Syria, where it backs Sunni Arab groups that are also hostile to the YPG.
Russia, which has close relations with the Syrian armed forces, is attempting to mediate a settlement, since Moscow would prefer that its two clients declare a truce so that the Arab Muslim radicals might be defeated.
The U.S. -backed Syria Democratic Forces alliance (SDF), including the YPG, captured the city of Manbij, just south of Jarablus, from Islamic State earlier this month.
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Meanwhile, Turkey yesterday pounded Islamic State jihadists in Syria with new artillery strikes as expectations grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the group after a deadly suicide bombing on its soil.
