Report: US deploys force in Manbij as ‘visible sign of deterrence’ – Pentagon

March 6, 2017 By administrator

A small number of US troops were sent to the northern Syrian town of Manbij to deter conflict between the US-backed Kurdish forces and Turkey-backed rebels, the Pentagon has confirmed. Syrian troops have also moved into the area to serve as a buffer.

US troops were first spotted in Manbij on Saturday, following the reports of a deal between the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian government to hand over some 20 villages in a zone between Manbij and Al-Bab, recently taken by Turkish-backed forces.

“They are certainly aware of where we are, and we are aware of where they are. There is no intention between the two of there being any conflict against any party other than ISIS [Islamic State],” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters, referring to the US and Syrian forces.

The US-backed SDF is mostly comprised of Kurdish militia, considered terrorists by Turkey. Washington has cultivated the SDF as a proxy force on the ground against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) independent of the Syrian army, which is supported by Russia and Iran.

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US troops were sent to Manbij after “the increase in Turkish treats to occupy the city,” Sharfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, told Reuters. Turkish-backed forces have clashed with SDF troops west of Manbij over the weekend and even on Monday, Darwish confirmed.

Last week, the US-backed group struck a deal with Russia to turn over up to 20 villages west of Manbij to the Syrian army, creating a buffer zone between the Kurdish-dominated militia and the Turks. While implementation of the deal has been delayed, five villages were handed over on Monday, Darwish said.

SDF forces liberated Manbij from IS in August 2016, just days before Ankara announced “Operation Euphrates Shield.” Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, along with Turkish armor and artillery, have since pushed IS back and captured the key stronghold of Al-Bab, only to see further advance checked by Syrian government troops that linked up with the SDF south of the city.

US presence in the area was intended to keep all groups focused on fighting IS, the Pentagon said on Monday.

US-backed Syrian Arab-Kurdish alliance retakes key border town of Manbij

August 13, 2016 By administrator

manbij-retaken An Arab-Kurdish alliance with support from US air strikes has retaken the strategic town of Manbij near the Turkish border. The fate of some of the 2,000 civilians who fled the crumbling ‘IS’ stronghold remains in doubt.

Kurdish television showed jubilant civilians in Manbij, including smiling mothers who had shed their veils and women embracing Kurdish fighters.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began its assault on Manbij, about 40 km (25 miles) from the Turkish border, in May. It had been held by IS since 2014. A member of the SDF told the AFP news agency on Saturday: “There are no more IS fighters” left in Manbij.

The capture of Manbij from IS represents the worst defeat for the extremist group in Syria since July 2015, when it lost the town of Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey.

The town lies on a key supply route between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa, the center of the IS group’s declared caliphate.

Fate of civilians in doubt

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization, said hundreds of civilians who fled the town on Friday had escaped while “others were freed.”

Rami Abdel Rahman the director of the Observatory added that not all the civilians were hostages: “Among the civilians taken by IS there were people used as human shields but also many who chose voluntarily to leave the town due to fear of reprisals” by the SDF, an alliance of Arab Sunnis and Kurdish fighters backed by US airpower. Some may have gone to the ‘IS’ held frontier town of Jarabulus.

The Observatory reported that 437 civilians, including more than 100 children, were killed in the battle for Manbij and surrounding territory.

IS fighters have left behind hundreds of mines and booby traps in the town.

bik/jm (AFP, dpa)

Syrian Kurdish-led forces enter Islamic state-held Manbij city

June 23, 2016 By administrator

BEIRUT,— A US-backed Kurdish-led alliance forces pushed Thursday into the Islamic State group’s bastion city of Manbij in northern Syria, a monitoring group said.

Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF managed to enter the city with support from air strikes by a US-led coalition, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“The SDF entered Manbij from the south under cover of coalition air raids,” said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman, whose Britain-based group relies on a broad network of sources inside Syria to monitor the country’s conflict.

He said there was “fierce street fighting between buildings” and that at least two SDF fighters had died when a bomb went off in a residential building.

Abdel Rahman said the SDF was able to break through IS defences a few hours after taking control of a village on the city’s southwestern outskirts.

He said progress was likely to be slow as SDF forces were facing booby-traps “planted by the jihadists to try to prevent the loss of the city.”

The SDF has faced fierce resistance from IS since launching the assault to take Manbij on May 31. It managed to encircle the city earlier this month but its advance slowed as IS fought back, including with almost daily suicide bombings.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is an alliance, formed in October 2015, from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) with smaller Arab, Christian and Turkmen militias in a coalition intended to take on Islamic State.

The SDF has over 30,000 Kurdish fighters and about 5,000 Arab fighters.

The Kurdish YPG forces, which the U.S. and Russia consider an ally in the fight against Islamic State, are the most effective group fighting IS in Syria, as the Kurdish militia has seized swathes of Syria from Islamic State.

The jihadists have held the city since 2014, the year IS seized control of large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq and declared its “caliphate”.

Manbij, which had population of about 120,000 before the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, is a key stop on IS’s supply route from the Turkish border to its de facto Syrian capital of Raqa.