Security sources said on Sunday the Syrian National Army (SNA) of the opposition now controls 80% of Manbij, a stronghold of the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing YPG. The SNA recently launched Operation Dawn of Freedom to weed out the terrorist group from territories it seized in northeastern Syria. Tal Rifaat was liberated from terrorists in late November.
Sources said the SNA, advancing through northern and western parts of Manbij, entered the central town, which has been occupied by the terrorists since 2016.
Residents of Manbij have joined the efforts, rising up against the terror group and rescuing prisoners held in local jails. The district's population is overwhelmingly Arab. Earlier in the operation, the SNA captured the town of Orayma and the village of Awn al-Dadat from the terrorists.
Launched on Dec. 1, Operation Dawn of Freedom began with the SNA clearing the Tal Rifaat district center of PKK/YPG terrorists. The operation aims to reclaim territory in northern Syria and restore security to the region.
Despite the promises of the U.S. and Russia, the PKK/YPG terrorists seized the Manbij district as a result of an attack launched with the support of the U.S. between May and August 2016. The U.S. had promised Türkiye that the PKK/YPG terrorists would leave the district after the area was cleared of the Daesh terrorists, but it did not fulfill this promise.
Moscow also undertook efforts to remove the terrorist organization from Manbij in an agreement reached with Ankara during Türkiye's Operation Peace Spring in October 2019 and announced that the terrorists had left – but the terrorist organization did not leave. The Manbij region was of central importance in the PKK/YPG's plan to open a terror corridor starting from the Syria-Iraq border and reaching the Mediterranean in western Syria. Türkiye had already dealt a blow to preparations to establish a direct connection between Afrin, Tal Rifaat and Manbij with Operation Euphrates Shield in August 2016.
Amid setbacks for the Assad regime since the reignition of the conflict in Syria, the PKK/YPG has been seeking to exploit the unclear security situation. In recent years Türkiye has deployed troops and worked with local allies such as the opposition SNA to prevent this and keep locals safe from terrorist oppression.
In related news, anti-regime armed groups were entering the center of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria, which was also occupied by PKK/YPG as it tried to gain territory amid the Assad regime's collapse, local sources told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Sunday.
On Friday, the collapsing regime's army withdrew some of its forces stationed in Deir el-Zour, an eastern province bordering Iraq, leaving the provincial center under the occupation of the PKK/YPG.
