Islamic State group militants clashed Saturday with US-backed fighters in the Syrian town of Manbij, pursuing their fierce defence of the jihadist stronghold and ignoring a deadline to leave.
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The jihadist group did, however, propose a deal to allow the safe passage of critically ill civilians to areas controlled by the USA -backed forces in exchange for allowing wounded IS fighters to leave the city, the spokesman said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said SDF forces were advancing in Manbij, moving steadily north from districts they already control in the town’s west and south.
It said their departure must take place within 48 hours and “this initiative is the only and the final one for the besieged Daesh elements to leave the city”, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadist group.
“The deadline is approaching, time is nearly up. and the battles are continuing”.
“Our steps towards liberating Manbij are going ahead”.
IS has “not responded” to the SDF’s offer and had instead “attacked our positions” in Manbij, he said.
Darwish did not say whether the SDF would accept the IS proposal on wounded fighters and sick civilians.
The Islamic State-linked Aamaq news agency said the USA -led coalition conducted about 20 airstrikes on the center of Manbij on Friday.
In June, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, backed by US-led coalition planes, launched an offensive to retake Manbij from Daesh.
With growing disquiet among their allies over a Tuesday morning flurry of airstrikes that killed scores, and potentially hundreds, of innocent civilians around the Syrian city of Manbij, the United States was facing calls from its own allies within Syria to immediately suspend their air campaign for the sake of an investigation.
Coalition spokesman Chris Garver said Friday that ISIS was mounting an exceptionally tough fightback.
Garver said the attack on Tuesday came after SDF fighters “observed a large group of Daesh [ISIL] fighters in a convoy who appeared to be readying for a counterattack” against US-backed troops in the area.
The battle has intensified as SDF units move deeper into the town, he said, “which is sort of different than what we saw in Ramadi and what we saw in Fallujah”, two Iraqi cities from which jihadists were ousted this year.
Garver estimated that the SDF had taken back roughly half the city, an area still housing at least 2,000 civilians.
The U.S. -led coalition has opened an investigation into the reports of civilian deaths, which have sparked condemnation including from Syrian activists and opposition groups.
Garver said he could not confirm that the SDF had issued an ultimatum to ISIS jihadists to leave Manbij.
People look for victims under the rubble of a collapsed building following a reported air strike on Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on July 19, 2016.
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Earlier this year, the coalition said 41 civilians had been killed in its bombing raids in both Iraq and Syria since August 2014.
