PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian Kurdish authorities evacuated thousands of civilians from Kurdish areas of a city in northeastern Syria on a second day of government air strikes on Friday, August 19, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia said, according to Reuters.

This week's fighting in Hasaka, which is divided into zones of Kurdish and Syrian government control, marks the most violent confrontation between the YPG and Damascus in more than five years of civil war, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in the last 48 hours, he told Reuters. The YPG is at the heart of a U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria, and controls swathes of the north where Kurdish groups have set up their own government.

The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment. The government, which opposes Syrian Kurdish autonomy, has yet to speak about this week's fighting during which it has used the air force against Kurdish groups for the first time.

Most of those evacuated were women and children. "Whoever can bear arms is fighting the regime and its gangs," Xelil said.

"Our situation is so far defensive but it will change all the while the regime escalates in this way," he said.

The YPG and Syrian government have mostly avoided confrontation during the multi-sided war that has turned Syria into a patchwork of areas held by the state and an array of armed factions.

Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has focused mostly on fighting Sunni Arab rebels who have been battling to oust him in western Syria with support from countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States. The Syrian and Russian air forces are routinely deployed in the war in western Syria.

The YPG, or People's Protection Units, has meanwhile prioritized carving out and safeguarding predominantly Kurdish regions of northern Syria. The group has ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey.

While the YPG controls most of the northeast, the Syrian government has maintained footholds in the cities of Hasaka and Qamishli at the border with Turkey. The YPG has controlled most of Hasaka city since last year.

It is the second major eruption of fighting between the YPG and Syrian government fighters this year. In April, the sides fought several days of lethal battles in Qamishli, north of Hasaka city. It is also mostly YPG-held.