Syrian army deploys to Manbij in new alliance with Kurds
BEIRUT: Syrian troops deployed in support of Kurdish forces around a strategic northern city on Friday, in a shift of alliances hastened by last week’s announcement of a US military withdrawal.
Nearly eight years into Syria’s deadly conflict, the move marked another key step in President Bashar al-Assad’s Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.
The Syrian army announced that it had raised the flag in Manbij, a strategic city close to the Turkish border where Kurdish forces have been deployed since 2016 and where US-led coalition forces are also stationed.
A military spokesman said in a televised announcement that the army would be bent on “crushing terrorism and defeating all invaders and occupiers”.
More than 300 government forces deployed in the Manbij area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Nura al-Hamed, deputy head of the Manbij local authority, told AFP that the regime deployment was the result of Russiansponsored negotiations.
“The regime forces will not enter the city of Manbij itself but will deploy on the demarcation line” with Turkish-backed Syrian groups, she said.
Hamed said that US and French coalition forces stationed there remained at their positions and continued to conduct patrols. The US military said the Syrian army had not entered the city itself.
“Despite incorrect information about changes to the military forces in Manbij city, (the US-led coalition) has seen no indication of these claims being true,” US Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown said.
The Syrian army’s deployment creates a regime buffer arching across northern Syria that fully separates the Turkish army and its proxies from the Kurds.
Turkey reacted to the deployment by warning “all sides to stay away from provocative actions” while a large convoy of its Syrian auxiliaries were seen moving closer to the western edge of Manbij later on Friday. — AFP