A small number of USA special operations forces will support the push on the ground to capture the “Manbij pocket”, acting as advisers some distance back from the front lines, United States officials said, discussing the plans on condition of anonymity. The operation could take weeks.
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USA 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.
“We confirm that this campaign will continue until the liberation of the last inch of the land of Manbij and its rural areas”, Adnan Abu Amjad, a commander with Manbij Military Council, a local militia allied with the Arab-majority Syria Democratic Forces, or SDF, told the Reuters news service on Thursday.
However, on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the assault on IS in northern Syria was mainly led by Arab rather than Kurdish forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said USA -led air strikes in support of the ground operation killed 15 civilians including three children near Manbij in the past 24 hours.
One of the 300 U.S. Special Operations forces working alongside Kurdish and Arab fighters in northeastern Syria was injured north of Raqqa over the weekend, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS had been pushed out of 16 villages near Manbij and US-led air strikes have killed 15 civilians including three children.
The report said “Turkey has voiced increasing concern about terrorist groups near its border”, including ISIL and al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, the Nusra Front. “After they take Manbij, the agreement is the YPG will not be staying …”
Mohannad al-Assadi, an official with the Syrian Red Crescent, which helped coordinate the convoy, says it brought baby formula but no adult food.
Turkey’s state-run news agency says airstrikes and Turkish artillery fire against the Islamic State group in Syria have killed 14 militants.
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.
There has been at least one recent dispute between Ankara and Washington, when Turkey questioned its relationship with the USA following American soldiers being spotted in Syria wearing badges of the YPG, a Kurdish organization considered terrorist by Turkey.
The city was a route for the flow of foreign fighters, making it “essential and important for the counter-[Daesh] fight in Syria”, he said.
Driving Daesh from its last remaining foothold at the Turkish border has been a top priority of the US-led campaign against the group. However, the extremists made advances last month against Syrian rebels, including groups backed by Turkey, in north-western Aleppo, threatening a key border crossing.
In a reminder of the risks, one USA servicemember was injured north of Raqqa over the weekend, the Pentagon said.
At the same time Isis is fighting to keep control of Fallujah in Iraq, where government troops have pushed into the southern parts of the city.
“It will not be like open ground. the nature of the battle and weapons is different”.
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Syria’s multiple conflicts are complicated enough but here they clash with the strategic interests of one of the country’s most powerful neighbours.
