Syrian army enters Manbij to block Turkey’s expansion

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) entered the strategic city of Manbij in northern Aleppo on Monday, October 14 night, a source from the military said, Al-Masdar News reports.

According to the military source, the Syrian Arab Army entered Manbij last night after the U.S. troops withdrew from this city to an unknown location in northern Syria.

The source said the Syrian Arab Army wanted to quickly deploy to Manbij in order to prevent the Turkish military from launching their large-scale attack on this part of the Aleppo Governorate.

While it is still not clear whether or not the Turkish military will attack Manbij, the arrival of the Syrian Arab Army’s troops in the city should give the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) a major boost in northeastern Aleppo.

Manbij was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces during their large-scale offensive in the Euphrates River Valley region in 2016.

The Turkish authorities have repeatedly demanded that the U.S. force the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) to withdraw from Manbij; however, Ankara claims Washington failed to do this.

The Turkish military’s Operation Peace Spring was launched at the beginning of October in response to their accusations that the U.S. failed to implement their end of the safe zone agreement from September.