AL-HASAKAH, Syria

A pro-Assad militiaman was killed in clashes with U.S. forces in Syria's Al-Hasakah province, followed by American airstrikes, according to local sources.

Clashes erupted when pro-regime militia (Shabiha) tried to stop U.S. soldiers in the village of Khirbet Amo on Al-Hasakah-Qamishli road.

Following the clashes, two U.S. fighter jets targeted two regime checkpoints in the same village, said the sources. 

The coalition later confirmed the confrontation with the militiamen, saying a coalition convoy "encountered a checkpoint occupied by pro-Syrian regime forces," and came under small arms fire following a series of "de-escalation attempts."

"In self-defense, coalition troops returned fire," coalition spokesman Col. Myles Caggins said in a statement. "The situation was de-escalated and is under investigation."

Caggins did not mention the airstrikes that reportedly followed, but said in a follow-up tweet that one U.S. soldier sustained a "minor superficial scratch while operating their equipment."