DAMASCUS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will retaliate against the attacks of the Syrian army on its positions in Raqqa province in northern Syria amid growing tension between the U.S.-backed forces and the Russian-supported ones.
Talal Silo, military spokesman of the SDF, said in a statement Monday that his group will use the right of self-defense against the attacks of the Syrian government forces, a day after the Syrian forces were accused of attacking the SDF positions in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State (IS) group.
Since June 17, the Syrian government forces unleashed wide-scale offensives, backed by artillery, tanks and warplanes, on areas liberated by the SDF near the Tabqa city in the countryside of Raqqa, said Silo, in a statement obtained by Xinhua.
"The aim of such attacks by the regime forces against us is to abort the operation of liberating Raqqa from IS," he said.
Silo, meanwhile, warned the regime forces of carrying on with their attacks on the SDF, otherwise "the continuous attacks on our positions in Raqqa will push us to retaliate and use our legitimate right in defending our forces."
The upped rhetoric comes a day after the U.S.-led coalition, which is heavily backing the SDF, shot down a Syrian warplane over the city of Rasafeh in the southern countryside of Raqqa, on the pretext that it was firing on SDF positions.
The Syrian army slammed the U.S. downing of the Syrian warplane as a flagrant aggression on the Syrian army, the "only effective force practicing its legitimate right" in defending Syria against the terrorist groups.
Moreover, the Syrian army accused the U.S. of backing the IS terrorists.
For its part, the U.S. coalition said it doesn't want any escalation with either the Syrian army or the Russians who are backing the government forces, but justified its strike as protecting the SDF.
The growing tension between the Syrian army and the SDF and other Kurdish-led groups seemed inevitable, despite the fact that both are fighting, separately, against the IS group in Raqqa and elsewhere.
But each force is fighting IS emanating from its interests and the interests of its backer.
The U.S. is backing the Kurdish-led SDF to capture Raqqa and other areas in northern Syria, while supporting other rebel groups near the Iraqi borders, While the Russian-backed Syrian army is fighting to secure border areas near Iraq and Jordan as well as to secure the southern countryside of Aleppo province in northern Syria from IS.
The aim of the military operation of the Syrian army in southern and western Raqqa is to isolate IS in the southern countryside of Aleppo as a prelude to drive them out of there completely.
The Syrian army is also paving the way for an all-out assault on IS in the countryside of the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, near the Iraqi borders.
The Syrian warplane, which was downed by the U.S. a day earlier, was striking IS positions in Rasafeh, whose capture from IS is important for the Syrian army, not to enter Raqqa, but to advance toward areas in Deir al-Zour.
A military expert told Xinhua on Monday that the Syrian army captured Rasafeh after the U.S. downed the Syrian warplane, adding that the city will put the Syrian army on the path toward the Bshari Mountain in the western countryside of Deir al-Zour.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the expert said the U.S. may have dropped the warplane because it didn't want the army to advance in that area, as the U.S. deems the eastern part of Syria as a region of interest to itself and the rebels its backing.
Still, the Syrian army stressed that the U.S. moves will not stop the military operations against IS in Raqqa or the Syrian desert close to the Iraqi and Jordanian borders.
On Monday, the Syrian army announced that it has captured 112 sq km in the Syrian desert, east of the central city of Palmyra, over the past 24 hours following battles with the IS militants.
Also Monday, Russia promised to target U.S.-backed troops in Syria after downing of the Syrian warplane.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described the shooting as a "dangerous escalation," amid reports that Moscow was freezing the safe flight agreement with the U.S. in Syria.
While the collision and the warming rhetoric is gaining momentum between both camps, experts in Syria didn't expect an all out confrontation between the Syrian army and the SDF as well as their respective backers.
"The collision from now to then between the Syrian army and SDF is expected, but I don't think it will become a fully-fledged war, because the U.S. and Russia are not ready for a real confrontation on ground, particularly now that the IS has not yet been defeated," a source close to the Kurdish groups told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"What is happening now is that each party is drawing the borders of its influence and such low-scale confrontations are expected from now and then, but the Russians and Americans will sort it out without major face-off," he added.
Analysts expects more serious tension between the Syrian army and the Kurdish-led groups when IS is completely defeated in northern Syria.