ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Videos emerged on Friday showing armored vehicles flying US flags in a convoy with vehicles flying People's Protection Units (YPG) banners, claiming to be near the town of Darbasiyah in northeast Syria near the Turkish border. The reports come on the same day that the Pentagon’s spokesperson said US President Donald Trump had delegated authority for the use of force in Iraq and Syria to the defense secretary.
A YPG commander said on Friday that US forces would begin monitoring the situation along the Syria-Turkey frontier, according to Reuters.
There have been YPG and Turkish media reports the last several days of fighting in Darbasiyah in the Syrian province of Hassakah between the Turkish military and YPG.
Neither the US-led international coalition, nor its partnered forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had confirmed the deployment or the location of the undated footage. The SDF is primarily comprised of the YPG and the Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC), according to the coalition.
"The President has delegated the authority for Force Management Levels (FML) for Iraq and Syria to the Secretary," said Pentagon spokesman Cpt. Jeff Davis during a teleconference on Friday, referring to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Davis reiterated on Friday that US troops have been deployed along the border.
"We continue to urge all the parties involved to focus on the common enemy which is ISIS."
The spokesperson for the US-led anti-ISIS coalition confirmed that Turkey has been striking coalition-partnered forces in Syria.
"As you know, Turkey conducted airstrikes in northern Syria's Hasakah province the night before last, resulting in the loss of life of our partnered forces in the fight against ISIS," US Col. Dorrian said on Wednesday.
Turkish military YPG exchanged fire on the Syrian-Turkish border on Wednesday, with both sides claim they responded in retaliation.
A YPG media outlet reported that the Turkish artillery shelled at least four villages in the border area of Darbasiyah in al-Hassakah province.
The Turkish military announced Wednesday that they continued their strikes against the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) positions in Iraq, and the YPG in Syria, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
On Tuesday, YPG reported Turkish airstrikes had killed 20 of its fighters in Qara Shouk.
“Twenty of our fighters were killed and 18 more injured as a result of the Turkish airstrikes,” Redur Khalil, the spokesperson for the YPG said.
