En route to security talks with Asian allies in Singapore, Mr. Carter emphasized the fact that the Manbij operation was being spearheaded by an “Arab-led force” and that Islamic State operatives in the northern Syrian district were planning attacks against Europe, Turkey and the United States.
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US backed forces have taken control of nine villages near the Turkish border in Syria since Tuesday in an advance toward the Islamic State-controlled town of Manbij.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces launched an offensive to retake Manbij, a key IS stronghold, earlier Wednesday. “But they will not engage in direct combat”, the first official said.
Islamic State-linked media, Amaq, reported that Islamic State fighters killed and wounded several Kurdish fighters in a village near the Tishreen Dam.
The operation will mostly comprise of Syrian Arabs, while the Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Unit) militia will represent a small fraction of the overall troops.
The left-leaning Beirut daily al-Safir (Ambassador) points out that less than two weeks after the Syrian Democratic Forces announced their campaign against al-Raqqa, the capital of the phony caliphate of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), the SDF instead has veered off to the west in a bid to capture Manbaj. The YPG has been the most effective USA ally in Syria in pushing back Islamic State and seizing land from extremists.
The US responded by telling these forces to stop wearing the badge, but insisted that US troops would continue to help the Kurdish fighters, saying they were taking on ISIL fighters efficiently. “They are doing all the things we can always do with able and motivated local forces to fight [ISIS]”.
Nicholas Heras, a Washington-based Middle East researcher, told MEE that closing the Manbij pocket “would further bolster the USA narrative that the current coalition strategy to defeat [the Islamic State group]” was working.
A Russia- and U.S.-brokered truce in Syria began on February 27, but fighting has continued to rage in many areas, particularly around the city of Aleppo, trapping civilians in the cross-fire between government and opposition forces. Washington informed Ankara of the Manbij operation, but it was beyond the range of Turkish artillery and Turkey would not back a campaign in which Syrian Kurdish fighters played a role, another Turkish military source said on Wednesday.
“The people in Rojava [Syrian Kurdistan] and northern Syria look at the federal system as the future of Syria from Efrin, Azaz until [Hasakah province to the east]”, he said.
SDF military adviser Nasser Haj Mansour told AFP that the alliance’s fighters were heading from the Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates towards Manbij.
USA special forces are also working “at the command and control level” in the operation, he added.
Fighting in Falluja risks the army becoming bogged down in territory inhabited by Sunni tribes long hostile to the Shi’ite-led government. The assault would go slowly to protect thousands of civilians still trapped in the city, he said.
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“We urge our people in the city of Manbij to stay away from all centres and positions where the Daesh terrorists are present because they will be military targets for our forces”.
