ANKARA, Turkey—Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that his country expects Syrian Kurdish forces to withdraw back to the east bank of the Euphrates River following their successful liberation of Manbij from Islamic State (ISIS) militants late last week. “The US promised that the [Syrian Kurdish] forces within the coalition and democratic forces there would move east of the Euphrates again following the Manbij operation,” Cavusoglu told reporters in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday. While Turkey has long opposed the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) from operating on the western side of the Euphrates it nevertheless acquiesced to the Manbij operation last May after the US promised that the YPG would only play a supporting role, with the majority of the fighting being carried out by Arab groups within the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Furthermore Turkey was promised that Manbij will be governed by an Arab council. The successful liberation of Manbij on Friday has forced ISIS from a key transit hub which connected its main stronghold in Syria, Raqqa, from the border. ISIS militants remain on the border. The SDF has said it intends to go further on from Manbij to liberate al-Bab, 50 kilometers west of Manbij.
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