Kurdish-led forces have launched an offensive to capture the Syrian town of Manbij, a suspected supply route for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS) group to smuggle weapons in from Turkey.
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The officials say the incident happened well outside Raqqa city limits, but it appears U.S. Special Operations forces, working in their “advise and assist” role with Syrian rebel and Kurdish forces, are getting closer to the ISIS capital.
The official said the USA forces would “not be engaged in direct combat” during the operation to reclaim the city of Manbij – a key access point for the Islamic State to move supplies and foreign fighters into Syria from Turkey.
“It’s significant in that it’s [ISIL’s] last remaining funnel” to Europe, said a USA military official.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Kurdish YPG militia made up the majority of the fighters taking part in the assault by the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, with the initial target of capturing the town of Manbij, contradicting U.S. officials who said the bulk were Arabs.
US commandos are accompanying the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they push north toward Manbij, backed by intense USA airstrikes, as part of an offensive aimed at recapturing the town in Aleppo province, said Col. Chris Garver, a US military spokesman.
Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance, has been carrying out cross-border shelling of Islamic State positions in Syria in recent months but that action has been further west around the Syrian town of Azaz.
According to the USA military, mostly Syrian Arab fighters involved in the battle for Manbij Pocket.
The report notes that in the last six months the Islamic State group has carried out attacks in 11 countries, excluding fighting in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan or Libya, killing more than 500 people and injuring hundreds more. They have since held their positions for four straight days without advancing into the main built-up areas of the city.
Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces fire a mortar shell toward positions held by Islamic State fighters in the northern province of Raqqa, Syria, May 27, 2016.
“The operation is aimed at isolating Islamic State in northern Syria”, Idriss Nassan, a senior Kurdish official, told dpa.
Instead, the United States has chose to back the Kurdish-led assault on the Manbij area.
A small number of American special forces troops are supporting the offensive on the ground, acting as advisors rather than engaging in direct combat, officials told Reuters. The assault would go slowly to protect thousands of civilians still trapped in the city, he said.
United States refugee agency UNHCR said 4,380 people had fled Fallujah so far during the offensive and it was searching for places for them in camps.
“The detentions are now in Manbij city, but they told us five minutes ago they are also detaining people in the rural areas too”, he said. Abadi’s initial decision to assault Falluja seems to have gone against the plans of his USA allies, who would prefer the government concentrate on Mosul. An operation in Fallujah that harms Sunni Muslim civilians could further alienate Sunnis, but he has decided he must act there to protect Baghdad from suicide bombers who have escalated attacks in the capital.
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The Syrian army advanced to the border between Raqqa and Hama provinces in February.
