ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least two Turkish-backed rebels were killed on Wednesday during clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the northern Syrian city of Manbij, a conflict monitor reported.
“Two members of the Syrian National Army factions were killed and two others were injured with varying degrees of severity following a confrontation with the Manbij Military Council forces … in the Manbij countryside, east of Aleppo,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK based war monitor.
The clashes come amid surging hostilities between Kurdish-led forces and Turkish-backed militants near Manbij, according to the monitor.
It added that an SDF fighter and two civilians were also injured in the clashes.
The Manbij Military Council, a local force affiliated with the SDF, oversees security in Arab-majority Manbij. Security in Kurdish-controlled areas in north and northeast Syria (Rojava) is managed through military councils led by locals to maintain the delicate balance of the region and prevent Arab discontent.
Turkey has long viewed strategic Manbij, located at a crossroads connecting Aleppo, Raqqa, and the Kurdish-administered northeast, as a key zone to launch its next military operation to seize northern Syria from Kurdish forces.
In 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled the city and Tal Rifaat as Ankara’s next targets in order to complete its long-desired 30-kilometer “safe zone” along the southern border.
Turkey accuses the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, of being the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Ankara with its proxy forces has conducted three military operations against Kurdish forces in northern Syria since 2016, invading key towns near the border such as Afrin, Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain), and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad).
