Despite US promises, PKK-offshoot PYD deploys additional terrorists west of Euphrates

Despite U.S. officials' reassurances on the PKK's Syrian offshoot Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), pulling out their militants from the Syrian city of Manbij and withdrawing east of the Euphrates, Turkish military sources have claimed that there has been additional deployments of PYD terrorists in the town, bringing their numbers to more than 1,000.

Though U.S. Special Envoy Brett McGurk announced last month that the PYD will pull out of Manbij and move east of the Euphrates, the YPG's refusal to withdraw from the town is expected to remain as one of the key issues brewing mistrust between Turkey and the U.S.

The outlawed terrorist organization PKK's Syrian offshoot PYD/YPG continues to carry out their terror plans in Manbij.

Earlier, it was claimed that there were approximately 250-300 PYD/YPG terrorists operating within the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), however, military sources have confirmed that an additional deployment of 300 terrorists to Manbij has taken the increasing number of PKK-affiliate PYD fighters to nearly 1,200.

Turkish officials consistently reiterated that the U.S. had guaranteed that YPG militants would not retain a presence west of the Euphrates River once counterterrorism operations against Daesh were complete in the region.

Manbij, located 40 kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border and some 30 kilometers west of Euphrates River, is a city of strategic importance. Back in May, the YPG-dominated SDF launched an operation to liberate the city from Daesh, and ultimately liberating the besieged city in August.

However, Ankara had made it clear a number of times that the YPG's presence and expansion to the west of the Euphrates River was a "red line."

In that respect, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had previously stated that nearly 200 YPG fighters were yet to withdraw from east of the Euphrates, while urging the U.S. to keep its promise on the matter, asserting that a lack of cooperation would force Turkey to take "necessary actions."