Shafaq News/ Battles between Turkish-backed groups,supported by airstrikes, and Kurdish-led forces killed 37 people on Thursday inSyria’s northern Manbij region, a war monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights war monitor reported “fierce battles in the Manbij countryside...in the past hours between the (Kurdish-led) Syrian Democratic Forces and the(Turkish-backed) National Army factions... with Turkish air cover.”
“The attacks killed 37 peoplein a preliminary toll,” mostly Turkish-backed combatants, but also six SDFfighters and five civilians, said the British-based Observatory.
The Observatory furtherreported that 322 individuals have been killed in the Manbij area since lastmonth.
The latest reported fightingcomes despite the United States saying Wednesday that it was working to addressTurkiye’s concerns in Syria to dissuade the NATO ally from escalating anoffensive against Kurdish fighters.
On Wednesday, Mazloum Abdi,who heads the US-backed SDF, said his group supported “the unity and integrityof Syrian territory.” In a written statement to AFP, he called on Syria’s newauthorities “to intervene in order for there to be a ceasefire throughoutSyria.”
Abdi’s comments followed whathe called a “positive” meeting between Kurdish leaders and the Damascus authoritieslate last month.
Turkish-backed factions innorthern Syria resumed their fight with the SDF at the same time as theopposition was launching an offensive on November 27 that overthrew Syrianpresident Bashar al-Assad just 11 days later.
The pro-Ankara groupssucceeded in capturing Kurdish-held Manbij and Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppoprovince, despite US-led efforts to establish a truce in the Manbij area.
Mounting Casualties
The fighting has continuedsince, with mounting casualties.
On Wednesday Washington’sSecretary of State Antony Blinken said Turkiye had “legitimate concerns” aboutKurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants inside Syria and called for aresolution in the country that includes the departure of “foreign terroristfighters.”
“That’s a process that’s goingto take some time, and in the meantime, what is profoundly not in the interestof everything positive we see happening in Syria would be a conflict, and we’llwork very hard to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” Blinken told reportersin Paris.
Turkiye on Tuesday threateneda military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria unless they acceptedAnkara’s conditions for a “bloodless” transition after al-Assad’s fall.
Syria’s Kurds control much ofthe oil-rich northeast of the country, where they enjoyed de facto autonomyduring much of the civil war since 2011.
The US-backed SDF spearheadedthe military campaign that ousted ISIS from its territory in Syria in 2019.
But Turkiye accuses the maincomponent of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliatedwith the PKK, which has waged a four-decade insurgency against the Turkishstate.
The PKK is considered aterrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, the European Union andmost of Turkiye’s Western allies.
Turkiye has mounted multipleoperations against the SDF since 2016.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Clashes in Syria’s Manbij continue: 37 new fatalities, most pro-Turkiye fighters )
Also on site :
- Zelensky challenges Putin’s offer to meet after Russia ignores ceasefire demand
- Keir says ‘we cant live on an island of strangers’ as he overhauls migration & cracks down on deportation dodgers
- The Rehearsal’s Newest Episode Continues Nathan Fielder’s Fascination with Romance