Syria’s Kurds under opposition assault as Erdogan vows to protect Turkey from 'terror'
Clashes are intensifying as Turkey-backed forces push up against Kurdish fighters.
As Syrian opposition forces celebrate their victory against the regime of Syria's fallen dictator, Bashar al-Assad, a second front led by Turkey is raging against the country’s Kurds amid reports that the Kurdish-controlled town of Manbij has been taken over by Ankara's Sunni allies.
"We welcome the clearing of terrorists from Tell Rifaat and Manbij,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments carried by the state-run Anadolu news agency Monday, even as the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces continued to deny that the northern city had fallen under the control of Sunni opposition groups backed by Ankara. The SDF has called on the international community to intervene with Turkey to stop the attacks. Salih Muslim, a senior member of the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES), told Al-Monitor that fierce fighting was continuing in and around the city. “Manbij has not fallen,” Muslim told Al-Monitor. Turkish armed drones are backing the opposition assault he said.
A spokesperson for the all-female component of the SDF known as the Women’s Protection Units echoed the claims, saying “there are currently intense clashes in the center and countryside of Manbij” and that Turkish “gangs” were being dealt “major blows.”
Reuters reported Monday that the United States and Turkey reached an agreement on the safe withdrawal of SDF forces from Manbij, citing a Syrian opposition source.
