ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Turkey has claimed that the United States has given a “guarantee” that no Kurdish forces will remain west of the Euphrates after the completion of an ongoing operation to rid the town of Manbij and surrounding territory of the terrorist group Islamic State. “If the YPG [Kurdish People’s Protection Units] want to provide logistical help east of the Euphrates that’s different, but after the operations end, we don’t want a single YPG member west of the Euphrates,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu during an interview with state broadcaster TRTHaber. Çavuşoğlu insisted that the “US has given a guarantee about this.” The operation to retake Manbij is being led by the Manbij Military Council, “an indigenous Arab force from Manbij seeking to reclaim their hometown from ISIL,” stated Air Force Col. Pat Ryder, US Central Command spokesman, last week. The Manbij Military Council is a force of about 3,000 consisting of at least 2,500 Arabs from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and around 450 members of the YPG. Turkey has given reluctant approval to the Arab-led offensive after receiving assurances from the United States that the few Kurdish troops partaking in the fight would withdraw from the territory once ISIS is routed and governance of the region would be placed in the hands of Syrian Arabs. Turkey considers the YPG and its political wing the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to be extensions of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is a named terrorist organization. The United States’ continued cooperation with and support of the YPG in the fight against ISIS in Syria rankles Turkey. In an apparent effort to appease their NATO ally, US military officials have repeatedly stressed that the Manbij operation is being led by local Arabs and the Kurds are assisting only. “After they take Manbij, the agreement is the YPG will not be staying,” a US military official told Reuters. “So you’ll have Syrian Arabs occupying traditional Syrian Arab land.” “The SDF operation against #ISIL in #Manbij is NOT led by the Kurds, led by Syrian Arabs,” tweeted Col. Chris Garver, Chief of Public Affairs for the US anti-ISIS operation, responding to media reports that Kurdish forces were the dominant force in the operation. “The YPG is supporting the operation, but 2,000+ Syrian Arab fighters leading the assault.” The operation to retake Manbij has been re-named Operation Faisal Abu Leyla after the death of the YPG commander on Sunday.
