Syria

Syria strongly condemns presence of US, Turkish forces around Manbij

Syria has strongly denounced the presence of Turkish and US troops around the Arab country’s northern town of Manbij, a day after soldiers of both countries entered the outskirts of the flashpoint town as part of a deal reached between Ankara and Washington to purportedly remove US-backed Kurdish militants from the area and “secure” the region.

“Syria expresses its strong condemnation and absolute rejection of the incursion of Turkish and American forces in the vicinity of Manbij, which comes in the context of continued Turkish and American aggression,” Syria’s official news agency, SANA, said, quoting an unnamed official from the country’s Foreign Ministry.

The official added that following successive achievements against various terror groups, the Syrian people and their valiant armed forces “are more resolute and determined than ever to liberate the entire Syrian soil from any foreign elements and to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Arab country.

The statement came just a day after Turkish broadcaster NTV, citing Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, reported that Turkish troops had begun patrolling areas around Manbij, as part of a deal reached between Ankara and Washington earlier this month to “ensure the security and stability” of the Syrian town.

Turkey, US agree on ‘road map’ for Syria’s Manbij

Turkey and the US reach a consensus to withdraw Washington-backed Kurdish militants from Manbij in a bid to restore security to the Syrian city.

Other reports said that American troops also began separate and independent patrols along the line separating Turkish-held areas of northern Syria from Manbij, which is currently under the control of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-dominated and anti-Damascus militant group that has the support of Washington.

The Syrian government has given a degree of authority to the Kurdish regions to run their own affairs in the face of a foreign-backed militancy. The US, however, has used the vacuum to establish a foothold in those regions with the help of militants.

‘Turkish forces enter outskirts of Syria’s Manbij’

Turkish troops enter the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij as part of a deal agreed with the US to remove Kurdish militants from the area.

Ankara, for its part, considers the SDF as largely composed of militants from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by the Turkish government as a terror group and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The latter has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.

The US angered Turkey by announcing a plan for the formation of a Kurdish militant force in Syria near the Turkish border, prompting Ankara in January to launch a cross-border military operation inside Syria, code-named Operation Olive Branch, with the declared aim of eliminating the YPG militants from northern Syria, particularly the Afrin region. Turkish troops captured Afrin in March, claiming that they had killed scores of YPG militants until then.

 

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