Syrians in Kurd-held city of Manbij fear Turkey, bet on US
Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to push eastward and take the city
In Syria’s Kurdish-controlled Manbij, salesmen shout as customers bustle through the city’s packed marketplace — an everyday scene that masks residents’ deep fears of a Turkish attack.
Despite the presence of US troops nearby, Manbij could become the next target of a Turkey-led battle against Kurdish militia in Syria’s north.
Ankara and allied Syrian rebels seized the northwestern city of Afrin on March 18, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to push eastward and take Manbij.
Turkey has said it aims to dislodge the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which it labels a “terrorist” group, from the length of its border with Syria.
The YPG has gained a reputation as a formidable force, especially as the backbone of a US-backed alliance that expelled Daesh from much of Syria.
Since Syria’s war started in 2011, Manbij has exchanged hands several times.
Rebels overran the town in 2012. Daesh seized it two years later, turning it into a key transit point for fighters, weapons and cash between the Turkish border and its then de facto capital of Raqa, further southeast.
The US-backed and YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of Manbij last year, handing the city’s management over to a civil council.
Dozens of American troops have since been stationed on the city’s outskirts, with additional troops deployed there around a year ago.
The US-led coalition stayed out of the battle for Afrin, but its presence outside Manbij has raised the spectre of a potential conflict between two Nato allies should Turkey attack the city.
On Thursday, State Department official William Roebuck and US Army Major-General James B. Jarrard, who heads a US-led force fighting Daesh, visited Manbij Civil Council.
The aim of the visit was “to reassure the population”, council co-chair Ebrahim Al Kaftan said after the meeting.