Kurdish forces to hand over Manbij to Syrian army

Turkey has also said it wanted to work with its allies to capture Daesh bastion of Raqqa

Villages controlled by the Manbij Military Council will be handed to the Syrian government in the coming days under a deal agreed with Russia, an official from the council said yesterday.

The Manbij Military Council is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of US-allied militias including the powerful Kurdish YPG, which is fighting against Daesh but is regarded by Turkey as a terrorist organisation.

Turkey yesterday threatened to strike Syrian Kurdish militia forces if they don’t withdraw from Manbij, a former bastion of Daesh extremists that has been taken over by predominantly-Kurdish forces.

“We will strike the YPG if they do not retreat,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists, referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.

The YPG, which Ankara considers a “terrorist” organisation, is backed by Washington as the most effective fighting force on the ground in the battle against Daesh.

Turkey launched a military campaign inside Syria in August, backing opposition rebels who captured a number of towns from Daesh militants, including Al Bab near the Turkish border.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week said the next target would be Manbij — which is now controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a group dominated by Kurdish fighters that Ankara denounces as “terrorists”.

“We have not yet started our operation in Manbij,” Cavusoglu said.

Turkey has also said it wanted to work with its allies to capture Daesh bastion of Raqqa, but has ruled out any operation alongside the Kurdish militia.

“Let’s be realistic ... To carry out this (Raqqa) operation with YPG is to risk Syria’s future,” he said.

Turkey has repeatedly said it will not allow a “terror corridor” along its southern border and is trying to prevent Syrian Kurdish militia from joining up its so-called “cantons” in the area.

Ankara’s offensive is aimed at both cleaning its frontier from Daesh militants and also stopping the advance of Syrian Kurdish militia.

It views YPG and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party as terror groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Outlawed as a terrorist organisation by Washington and Brussels, the PKK has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.