Hundreds of ISIS vehicles were allowed to leave Syrian city

Turkey expects Syrian Kurdish fighters to withdraw east of the Euphrates river after they and other USA -backed forces seized control of the Syrian town of Manbij from Islamic State last week, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.

The United States State Department said on Monday that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of militias dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia of the Syrian PKK affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD), has promised that Arabs will assume control of the city of Manbij after the SDF liberated it from DAESH.

In late June, two large convoys of ISIS fighters fleeing Fallujah were destroyed by a large number of airstrikes.

“Thousands are coming back and shops are opening”. “While withdrawing from a district of Manbij, Daesh (IS) jihadists abducted around 2,000 civilians from Al-Sirb neighbourhood”, said Sherfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, a key component of the SDF.

In his statement, Carter said success in Manbij is another step closer to liberating Raqqa. The capture of Tal Abyad deprived the militant group of a direct route to bring in new foreign militants or supplies. ISIS imposes a harsh and extreme version of Islam on the territory under its control, including a mandatory dress code. Some men were seen clipping their beards with scissors while women were able to uncover their faces.

Asked what the recent efforts were in the city’s liberation from Daesh, the Pentagon said the situation was “very fluid” but US partners on the ground were “closing in” of the fight.

Predominantly composed of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and formed a year ago, the SDF launched the USA -backed offensive to liberate Manbij at the end of May. He said the USA promised that would not happen.Turkish-Syrian border security and the advance of YPG-PYD forces in northern Syria have been key issues for Ankara.

For weeks, SDF commanders negotiated with IS militants in Manbij in an effort to persuade them to leave, to avoid civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure. The U.S. has provided the SDF with air cover and American special forces are advising them on the ground.

A former resident of the city said he had reports from family members that the Kurdish YPG, who are the dominant group within the SDF, had rounded up dozens of young men before screening them because of concerns that some of them belonged to sleeper cells.

Manbij lies west of the Euphrates River.