"Fighting over territory in Aleppo demonstrates how difficult it is for the U.S. to manage these really localized and, in some cases, entrenched conflicts," said Nicholas Heras, an expert on the Syrian civil war at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank in Washington. "Preventing clashes is one of the constant topics in the joint operations room with Turkey."
Over the course of the Syrian civil war, the town of Marea has been on the front line of the Islamic State's attempts to advance across Aleppo province toward the rest of northern Syria.
On Feb. 18, the Syrian Democratic Forces attacked the town.
A fighter with the Suqour Al-Jabal Brigade, a group with links to the CIA, said intelligence officers of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State know their group has clashed with the Pentagon-trained militias.
"The MOM knows we fight them," he said, referring to the joint operations center in southern Turkey, which is known as MOM from the acronym of its name in Turkish, Musterek Operasyon Merkezi.
"We'll fight all who aim to divide Syria or harm its people," said the fighter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Marea is home to many of the original Islamist fighters who took up arms against Assad during the Arab Spring in 2011. It has long been a critical way station for supplies and fighters coming from Turkey into Aleppo.
"Attempts by Syrian Democratic Forces to take Marea was a great betrayal and was viewed as a further example of a Kurdish conspiracy to force them from Arab and Turkmen lands," Heras said.
The clashes brought the U.S. and Turkish officials to "loggerheads," he added.
After diplomatic pressure from the U.S., the militia withdrew to the outskirts of the town as a sign of good faith, he said.
But continued fighting among different U.S.-backed groups may be inevitable, experts on the region said.
"Once they cross the border into Syria, you lose a substantial amount of control or ability to control their actions," said Jeffrey White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official. "You certainly have the potential for it becoming a larger problem as people fight for territory and control of the northern border area in Aleppo."
W.J. Hennigan and Brian Bennett reported from Washington and special correspondent Nabih Bulos from Amman.
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