The Pentagon has deployed more than 200 special forces troops alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance in which it has been trying to boost the Arab element.
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That is seen as important to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey, which has opposed any further expansion of Syrian Kurdish sway at the frontier.
“We confirm that this campaign will continue until the liberation of the last inch of the land of Manbij and its rural areas”, said a joint statement in the name of the SDF and the allied Manbij Military Council.
A plan to airlift supplies to besieged towns in Syria, meanwhile, has been finalized butRussia and others are concerned about the safety of aid workers, and Damascus government approval is needed for the risky operation, a senior United Nations official said on June 2.
US officials told Reuters thousands of fighters, supported by a small number of USA special forces, were launching an offensive to capture the crucial swathe of northern Syria that militants have long used as a logistics base.
An American fighter, battling alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces, holds a USA flag as he stands with SDF members in the northern province of Raqqa, Syria, May 27, 2016.
The operation precedes an eventual push by US -backed Syrian forces toward the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria and the prime objective in Syria for USA military planners.
The advance on the city of Manbij is the latest assault on an Islamic State stronghold, coming a little more than a week after Iraqi government forces launched an offensive to retake the city of Fallujah and Kurdish-led forces began a move on Raqqa, the group’s de facto Syrian capital.
US officials have previously described the other fighters as YPG militia. It said the strikes came after Turkey’s military had determined that IS was preparing to attack Turkish territory from the region. The operation could take weeks to complete.
Washington sees the SDF – which is dominated by the Kurdish People’s PROTECTION Units (YPG) – as the most effective ground force against IS in Syria. USA military officials have highlighted the importance of seizing the so-called Manbij pocket.
SDF and YPG officials could not immediately be reached for comment. It said that 28 villages are now under SDF control. President Erdogan sees the YPG as a branch of the outlawed Turkish Kurdish organization PKK that is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in eastern Turkey.
The US officials said the YPG will only fight to help clear Daesh from the area around Manbij.
According to the USA military, the number of foreign fighters joining the group through the Syrian and Iraqi border has dropped from 2,000 fighters per month, to 500 per month, but stemming the flow entirely has proved elusive. “After they take Manbij, the agreement is the YPG will not be staying”.
Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood said the weapons aren’t meant for the PKK, and the US doesn’t know that any of the arms have gone to the group.
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Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.
