Syrian Army to Deploy Troops in Manbij

The Arabic-language website of Russia’s Sputnik news agency quoted a security source as saying  that Damascus and the Kurds have agreed on the deployment of army troops in Manbij that is now under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

It added that the Syrian soldiers will enter the town in coming days.

Manbij is said to be the next phase of the Turkish army operation against the Kurds in Northern Syria.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said earlier this month that if the PYD/PKK group does not leave Syria’s Manbij, Turkey would move there and towards East of Euphrates River.

In remarks made to CNN Turk, Bozdag, who is also a Spokesman for the government, said the PYD/PKK terrorists had to leave Manbij, a strategic city West of the Euphrates in Northern Syria.

“If they [PYD/PKK] do not leave Manbij, we will move into Manbij and towards the East of Euphrates,” he added.

Tensions are on the rise between Turkey and the US after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that his country’s army plan to expand their invasion of the Kurdish-held territories in Syria from Afrin to Manbij where some 3,000 US military forces are deployed.

Since the start of Operation “Olive Branch” by Ankara and its allied militants, Turkey has stressed that its forces would spread to the East, while Erdogan has stressed that his army would soon invade Manbij and continue the assault to the border with Iraq some 900km away.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also warned that it was “necessary for them (US) to immediately withdraw from Manbij” as well as take “more concrete steps rather than words” to end support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of the United States Central Command, had said that withdrawing US forces from Manbij is “not something we are looking into”.

Turkey’s Operation ‘Olive Branch’ kicked off mid-January from air and ground around the area of Afrin in Syria’s Aleppo to oust the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has stressed that Turkish offensive in Afrin is part of Ankara’s strategy based on supporting terrorists.

The Syrian government has condemned the “brutal Turkish aggression” against the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, rejecting Ankara’s claim about having informed Damascus of the operation.