By taking Minbij, the DFB and allies hope to cut off IS from the other areas under its control, as well as access to Syrian land along the Turkish border that the militants have long used to move foreign fighters back and forth to Europe.
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One U.S. official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue, said that overall, “Kurds are the main fighting force” in the SDF.
U.S.-backed Syrian fighters advanced against Islamic State in the last tract of territory the group holds near the Turkish border on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
“They’ll be as close as they need to be for the [Syrian fighters] to complete the operation”.
Syrian forces have launched an offensive to push Daesh Takfiri terrorists out of the northern city of Manbij near the Turkish border, United States military officials say.
The offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is reported to be directed at Manbij, a town under IS control.
The SDF is an umbrella group of fighters from the Kurdish YPG militia and Syrian Arab groups, some of which fought alongside it in a campaign that drove Islamic State from wide areas of northern Syria previous year. “After they take Manbij, the agreement is the YPG will not be staying …”
Last week, AFP photos of USA special forces wearing YPG patches on their uniforms angered Turkey.
However, the Observatory described much of the fighting so far as carried out by Kurds.
However, US-backed Syrian forces launched an offensive on Tuesday in a battle that is likely to last several weeks. Isis terrorists are believed to have strewn deadly booby-traps throughout the city.
Abadi first announced plans to assault Fallujah 10 days ago.
The order was meant to limit harm to tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the city. The area was overrun by Islamic State in the summer of 2014. “There were strikes near a hospital twice in 30 minutes”.
The U.N. children’s fund has issued a stark warning to Iraqi troops and Islamic State militants to spare the children amid a battle to retake the city of Fallujah city. The goal is to crush Islamic State and liberate Mosul and Falluja.
The offensive comes after the US-led coalition carried out 18 airstrikes in the area the previous day.
Abadi, a member of Iraq’s Shi’ite majority, is trying to hold together a coalition government in the midst of popular protests against an entrenched political class. An operation in Falluja that harms Sunni Muslim civilians could further alienate Sunnis, but he has decided he must act there to protect Baghdad from suicide bombers who have escalated attacks in the capital.
“The city is inaccessible for assistance and market distribution systems remain offline”, the United Nations’ World Food Programme said.
ISIS jihadists based in a city in Syria with so many British fighters it has been nicknamed “Little London”, “aspire” to bomb the West, the US Secretary of Defense said today.
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“I don’t think it’s imminent but I think the process that will lead to air drops has already started”, Ramzy said.
