ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Clashes between Syrian Kurdish and forces of the Damascus regime continued in the northeastern city of Hasakah on Sunday, despite Russian efforts to end them through mediation. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday that Kurdish forces are advancing against regime enclaves in the Kurdish-majority city’s south. The Kurds are reportedly gaining ground and seizing territory in several regime-held neighborhoods. An AFP journalist reported seeing members of the pro-regime National Defense Forces (NDF) militia retreating ahead of Kurdish advances. The Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) have clashed with regime military forces in Hasakah and Qamishlo in the past. None of those clashes escalated as far as the current ongoing fighting in Hasakah, which risk sparking a direct conflict between the two for the first time since the start of the Syrian conflict more than five years ago. A pro-regime website, Al-Masdar news, claimed that the Russians failed in their mediation efforts to halt the fighting because of the regime refusal to withdraw its forces from Hasakah and Qamishlo, as demanded by the Kurds. The Observatory estimates that the fighting in Hasakah has left 43 dead, 27 of them civilians, including 11 children. It also reported that warplanes belonging to the regime flew over the city early on Sunday but did not drop bombs. Meanwhile, the United States has warned the regime against bombing the Kurds again. Syrian Kurdish-led forces are Washington’s main ally on the ground against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. The US even flew fighter jets over Hasakah to warn off the Syrians on Thursday, after one of their bombs landed near some American special forces advisors, who are there coordinating anti-ISIS operations with their Kurdish-led allies. Russian efforts to end the clashes through mediation are still ongoing, despite the failure of their first attempt on Saturday.
