ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – After announcing that Turkish-backed rebel forces are besieging ISIS in the Syrian city of al-Bab Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also vowed to march on Manbij to remove the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces as Turkish artillery continues to target the YPG in the vicinity of that city. “We have now reached al-Bab; we have also encircled and besieged al-Bab from the west. This is not enough. From there we will also head to Manbij,” Erdogan said on Tuesday. “Why are we going to go to Manbij?” he added, “Not because we are keen on it. There are [Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party] PYD and YPG in Manbij. They should also leave and go further to the east.” Turkey initially permitted a small number of YPG fighters to join the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) offensive against ISIS in Manbij over the summer after the US promised that the YPG would withdraw back to the east side of the Euphrates River following ISIS’s defeat there. The YPG haven’t to date. “We want this [the withdrawal of the YPG from Manbij],” Erdogan said, “They [the United States] said ‘they will leave;’ we said ‘they must leave.’ Until now, they say some of them have left. We want the PYD and YPG to fully leave that place.” Turkey has attacked YPG forces attempting to advance westward from Manbij to attack al-Bab. Over the weekend they targeted YPG forces west of Manbij with air and artillery strikes wounding at least four fighters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights conflict monitor reported that Turkey continued its shelling of Sheikh Nasser village and other areas controlled by the SDF’s Manbij Military Council in the western countryside of Manbij. The Observatory said the attacks caused extensive damage, injured seven people and killed at least two fighters.
