Forces of the Manbij Military Council say they have broken the Islamic State's first lines of defense in order to reach trapped civilians who need urgent help such as water and food supplies.
“Concerning the trapped, we are trying to deal with the matter. Before we target any place we try to make sure there are no civilians in there, and this is one of the foundations of our operations. I can say that this campaign has been successful at every level. So far no damage was done to any civilians, no mistakes on the fronts between us and the civilians. We are being very careful and we are dealing with the matter very seriously,” Sharfan Darwish, official spokesman of the Manbij Military Council said.
According to Nasser haj Mansour, adviser in the Syrian Democratic forces: "Manbij Military Council forces are working to rescue civilians from the jaws of ISIS and also working to open safe corridors from within the city. The stay of civilians inside the city is not because of the military council siege of the city but because ISIS is trying to use them as human shields.”
General Commander of the military council, Adnan Abu Amjad, reported that his forces have managed to free more than 1,000 square kilometers of the Manbij countryside, and have killed and wounded nearly a thousand members of ISIS.
He claimed that the bodies of about 500 dead ISIS militants lay in the hands of the military council.
“Our forces are now advancing towards the city and the siege is almost complete on the city. Our troops are rapidly advancing into the place where there are no civilians.” Adnan Abu Amjad said.
