ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least three Turkish-backed militants were killed on Saturday in clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the northern Syrian city of Manbij, a war monitor reported.
“Three members of the National Army were killed following an infiltration operation carried out by forces of the Manbij Military Council … in the Manbij countryside in eastern Aleppo,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.
The Manbij Military Council is a local Kurdish-led force affiliated with the SDF in Arab-majority Manbij. Security in Kurdish-controlled areas in north and east Syria is managed through military councils led by locals to maintain the delicate balance of the region and prevent Arab discontent.
Turkey has long viewed strategic Manbij, located at a crossroads connecting Aleppo, Raqqa, and the Kurdish-administered northeast, as a key zone to launch its next military operation in northern Syria to seize from Kurdish forces.
In 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled the city 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).