Heavy clashes reported between Kurds, Syrian forces – HASSAKEH

MESOP : NO MORE MUTUAL TOLERATION ASSAD / PYYD (PKK) ANYMORE ? – SO WHY MEETING TOGETHER IN MOSCOW ?

Syrian Kurds battled on Saturday with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, Kurdish sources and a monitoring group said.

Clashes broke out between Assad’s forces and Kurdish forces affiliated with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) when army soldiers and allied militiamen took control of buildings in an area that both sides had agreed would stay demilitarized, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

“There has been some serious fighting today. The PYD (the political wing of the YPG) arrested 10 soldiers and Baath party gunmen,” Observatory head Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters. “There is now fighting in many areas of Hassakeh.” The YPG and the government had divided Hassakeh into zones, the Observatory said. The army shelled three Kurdish-majority areas on the edges of Hassakeh city, and fighters from YPG clashed with Syrian forces inside the city throughout the day, the YPG said on its website. Kurdish activists posted photos showing smoking rising from buildings and YPG fighters raising the Syrian Kurdistan flag in areas said to be taken from government forces. Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment and state media did not mention the clashes. A spokesman for the YPG was not available. Damascus has promoted its ties with the Kurds, saying that it provides military support to Kurdish forces to help them battle Islamic State, although the PYD denies that it cooperates with the central government. During the three-year war in Syria, Kurds have asserted control in parts of the north-east where their community predominates. Islamic State and other hardline groups consider Kurds heretics and have fought to take areas they control.