“Turkish forces bombed with artillery shells positions of the Manbij Military Council near the city of Manbij in eastern Aleppo,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
The monitor did not mention any casualties as a result of the clashes.
The Manbij Military Council, a local force affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), oversees security in Arab-majority Manbij. Security in Kurdish-controlled areas in north and northeast Syria is managed through military councils led by locals to maintain the delicate balance of the region and prevent Arab discontent.
The clashes come amid an increased surge of violence near Manbij between Kurdish-led forces and Turkish-backed militants, according to SOHR.
Turkey has long viewed strategic Manbij, located at the crossroads connecting Aleppo, Raqqa, and the Kurdish-administered northeast, as a key zone to launch its next military operation to seize northern Syria from Kurdish forces.
In 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled the Manbij and Tal Rifaat as Ankara’s next targets in order to complete its long-desired 30-kilometer “safe zone” along the southern border.
Turkey accuses the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, of being the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Ankara has carried out three military operations against Kurdish forces in northern Syria since 2016, invading key towns near the border such as Afrin, Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain), and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad).
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