A spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said they had taken over the city after the last Isis militants fled on Friday.
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The militants were finally ousted after a deal was reached on Friday that secured their departure together with some 2,000 civilians believed to have been their relatives, towards their stronghold of Jarablus near the border with Turkey, a Syrian from Manbij who is in touch with relatives there said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces – which are USA -backed – declared the city fully liberated from the terror group, saying they were “starting a new history after closing the book of darkness”.
US -backed fighters liberated a strategic Syrian city from the Islamic State over the weekend, bringing the rebels a step closer to the terrorist group’s de facto capital of Raqqa and cutting off a route used by the militants.
Kurdish control of Manbij would certainly hurt relations with the US -led coalition as there is some remote involvement with Turkey as they border the newly liberated city, who have a rocky relationship with the Kurds.
“While withdrawing from a district of Manbij, Daesh [Isis] jihadis abducted around 2,000 civilians from al-Sirb neighbourhood”, said Darwish. Since that assault began, until Friday, when the last of the ISIS militants had fled the city, it has claimed the lives of thousands of people, whether they were Jihadists militants, SDF fighters, or simply civilians.
In scenes of joy from a Syrian city liberated from Islamic State occupation in recent days, residents of Manbij were seen celebrating in the streets, with women burning burqas – full-body coverings, which also hide the face – and men cutting beards that had been mandated by their rulers. Because of its proximity to the Turkish border, Manbij was a crucial route for supplies and the transfer of foreign fighters in and out of Europe.
The SDF, an alliance of Kurds and Arabs, launched the operation to drive ISIL out of Manbij in late May, but was slowed by the jihadists’ use of civilians as human shields.
The operation to retake Mosul that started yesterday is part of the preparations for an offensive on the city itself, said a Kurdish official who declined to be identified.
Though ISIS has been expelled from the area, the “liberated” city of Manbij could be facing a major new battle, as the city’s overwhelmingly Arab population fears the Kurdish-dominated forces who captured the city are eyeing some major demographics shifts. “The city is now under our full control”, said a senior level rebel official.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said that several hundred of the civilians taken were no longer held by IS. When he removed it there was an explosion and he was killed’.
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More than 290,000 people have died in the conflict in Syria since March 2011. It is also the largest city the group has lost in Syria.
