Syrian Kurdish militia to pull out of strategic Syria town after deal
BEIRUT: The leading Syrian Kurdish militia said Tuesday it would withdraw from Manbij, easing fears of a direct clash between Nato allies Washington and Ankara over the strategic northern town.
The Kurds were key players in the fight against the Islamic State group, whose last holdout fighters have launched a deadly offensive against pro-regime forces further south.
Manbij is a Sunni Arabmajority town that lies just 30 kilometres south of the Turkish border, and where US and French troops belonging to the Western coalition against IS are stationed.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) spearheaded a victorious offensive in 2016 to rid Manbij of IS and had kept military advisers in the town to train local forces.
“Now, after more than two years of continuous work and with the Manbij Military Council being self-sufficient in their training, the YPG has decided to pull its military advisers from Manbij,” it said in a statement.
The YPG forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-Arab alliance that has received extensive backing from the US-led coalition.
The Pentagon said US troops would remain in the town for now.
“There are no plans to move US forces from Manbij. However, more details of the Manbij roadmap are yet to be hammered out and more details will be announced later,” spokesman Eric Pahon said.
For months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to march on Manbij, accusing the YPG of being the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is blacklisted in Turkey.
Those threats raised fears of a clash between Turkish and American troops that talks have tried to mollify.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu met in Washington to back a ‘roadmap' whose rough outlines had been set last month, according to the State Department.
It said the diplomats would coordinate on “security and stability in Manbij,” but gave no details.
Turkey's state news agency Anadolu, however, has said that after the YPG withdraws, the US and Turkish militaries would begin joint operations in Manbij.
A third phase would involve forming a new administration to run the town within 60 days, it said. — AFP