US-backed Syrian forces clash with Islamic State militants inside Manbij - monitor

Breaking Headlines
2016-06-23 | 02:48
High views
Share
LBCI
Share
LBCI
Whatsapp
facebook
Twitter
Messenger
telegram
telegram
print
US-backed Syrian forces clash with Islamic State militants inside Manbij - monitor
Whatsapp
facebook
Twitter
Messenger
telegram
telegram
print
3min
US-backed Syrian forces clash with Islamic State militants inside Manbij - monitor

US-backed Syrian forces fought Islamic State militants on Thursday inside the city of Manbij for the first time since they laid siege to the militant stronghold near the Turkish border, a monitor said.

 

The British-based Observatory for Human Rights said heavy clashes were taking place in western districts of Manbij after the alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters swept into the city near the Kutab roundabout, almost 2km from the city center.

 

The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), including a Kurdish militia and Arab allies that joined it last year, launched the campaign late last month with the backing of US Special Forces to drive Islamic State from its last stretch of the Syrian-Turkish frontier.

 

If successful it could cut the militants' main access route to the outside world, paving the way for an assault on their Syrian capital Raqqa.

 

Manbij is in a region some 40 km (25 miles) from the Turkish border and since the start of the offensive on May 31, the SDF has taken dozens of villages and farms around it but had held back from entering the city with many thousands of people still trapped there.

 

Elsewhere, artillery fire from Turkey and air strikes by US-led coalition warplanes killed at least eight Islamic State fighters in northern Syria, military sources said on Thursday.

They said Turkish army howitzers and multiple rocket launchers fired on the militants on Wednesday as they were preparing to strike Turkey with rockets and mortars, destroying one defensive fighting position.

The coalition has stepped up air strikes against Islamic State in the area in recent weeks, in response to rocket attacks by the militants on the Turkish border town of Kilis.

Kilis, just across the frontier from an Islamic State-controlled region of Syria, has been hit by rockets more than 70 times this year. More than 20 people have been killed and parts of the town reduced to rubble.  
 
 
 
REUTERS

Breaking Headlines

IS

Turkey

Syria

LBCI Next
Grand Mufti Derian travels to Saudi Arabia for Hajj
Download now the LBCI mobile app
To see the latest news, the latest daily programs in Lebanon and the world
Google Play
App Store
We use
cookies
We use cookies to make
your experience on this
website better.
Accept
Learn More