JARABLUS, Syria — As the many parties invested in Syria were considering how they might be affected by the United States withdrawing its troops, the Syrian regime made its own move Friday.
Syria amassed its troops at Manbij in northern Syria, near the Turkish border — a city Turkey has been threatening to attack for more than a year, and with increasing frequency of late. Manbij is currently occupied by US troops and the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is an alliance of primarily Kurdish and Arab militias that have helped the United States fight the Islamic State (IS).