McGurk added: ‘The operation in Manbij is about shutting down the main corridor from Raqqa and then out, in which some of the attackers that launched the Paris attacks we know traveled through that route.
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Garver said the USA has begun to understand how ISIS processes fighters once they migrate to Syria because of information collected around Manbij.
The SDF forces have denied reports that dozens of civilians were killed by the US-led coalition airstrikes last week, and have said that only ISIS fighters were targeted in those raids.
According to the Observatory, around 600 Syrians, including 136 children, have been killed in coalition air strikes since September 2014.
A watchdog group, the Great Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, alleged in a statement that the strike killed 28 civilians.
Newsweek identifies the fighters who have been capturing this material as members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a “coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters”, supported by airstrikes and special forces operations from the US -led coalition.
Manbij, the scene of intense fighting for over two months between Isis and US-backed militant groups, has now experienced another airstrike that “may have resulted in civilian casualties”, the US Central Command (Centcom) disclosed late on Thursday.
The initial analysis has provided insights into the location of some Islamic State leaders, the group’s network of operatives overseas, and its finances, officials said.
The latest incident comes two days after the U.S. opened an investigation into the deaths of at least 73 civilians in the same area during another Coalition airstrike on July 19.
Manbij served as a key receiving area for foreign fighters on their arrival.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry also censured the ceaseless support of France, US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the so-called “moderate opposition” groups, calling it an overt support for the terrorists wreaking havoc across the world, specifically in Syria.
Fighters from the USA -backed alliance have in recent weeks made incremental advances as they try to flush out the remaining Islamic State fighters in Manbij.
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This was the first time American forces accompanied the Iraqi army closer to the front lines of battle since U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in April that they would be allowed to do so.
