After months of fighting, the Syrian Democratic Forces captured Manbij, an Islamic State stronghold since 2014 and a critical supply line to the nearby Turkish border that the extremist group had used to smuggle goods and fighters. Kurdish television showed footage of jubilant civilians in Manbij, including smiling mothers who had shed their veils and women embracing Kurdish fighters.
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Rebels and government forces also clashed Saturday in the city, where more than 200 civilians have been killed since a rebel offensive began on July 31, the observatory said.
Twelve people were killed in Hayyan, a small town 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of Aleppo, it said.
It prompted a huge outpouring of emotion among the local residents in the city, who lit cigarettes, with some men even cutting off their beards, which was banned under the rule of the terror group.
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. But, since the recent coup attempt on Turkish president Erdogan by a faction of the armed forces who claimed Turkey would be liberated from his rule, he has accused cleric Fethullah Gulen, who now resides in the United States, of the attempt and is demanding his extradition.
Some civilians were able to escape while others were released, according to the SDF and Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Sean MacFarland, the top U.S commander for the fight against the Islamic State, said that about 45000 extremist militants have been driven out from the battlefield in Syria and that the number of militants from ISIS has been reduced to 15000.
The IS, which has suffered a string of losses in Syria and Iraq, has often staged mass abductions when it comes under pressure to relinquish territory it holds.
“The Pentagon have said that ISIS “is clearly on the ropes, ‘ but isn’t this too soon?” In Manbij, numerous more than 300 U.S. Special Forces advisers in Syria monitored the battle from command posts several miles away, and the U.S. military launched 100 airstrikes in the city.
The operation, in which USA special forces played a significant role on the ground, marks the most ambitious advance by a group allied to Washington in Syria since the United States launched its military campaign against IS two years ago.
Mosul is the largest urban centre under the militants’ control, and had a pre-war population of almost two million.
Haj Mansour said some Islamic State fighters were captured in the town while others fled to nearby villages.
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 and has since killed more than 290,000 people and drawn in world powers on all sides of the war.
Raqqa, estimated to have a population of between 250,000 and 500,000, has become the de facto capital of the “caliphate” whose creation was proclaimed by IS two years ago after it took control of large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
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Also on Sunday, a monitoring group said Syrian and Russian warplanes had killed dozens in areas held by a rebel alliance battling to take control of Aleppo city.
