Hundreds in Manbij protest against Turkish threats to attack their city

MANBIJ, Northern Syrian Federation —  A number of people from other parts of the Syrian Kurdistan joined Manbij people earlier this week to protest against the Turkish incursion into Afrin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's threats to attack Manbij if the Kurdish-led fighters continue to control the city.

Abu Wahed, an Arab citizen of Manbij, told Rudaw that all people of northern Syria are united against the Turkish threats.

"There is no difference between Kurds, Arabs, Circassians, Christians, or Armenians. They are all saying no to Erdogan and no to a Turkish invasion."

President Erdogan has frequently threatened to attack Manbij, following the Turkish military takeover of the northwestern canton of Afrin on March 18.

People were holding Arabic and Kurdish posters.

"Long live Syria: free, united and democratic," read a poster.

"This was an organized rally attended by all parts of northern Syria to reject the tyrant Erdogan's actions and threats," Salma Saadun, another protester said. 

Manbij is located in northeast Aleppo, northern Syria. It is mostly populated by Arabs and considered a strategic place in

Syria.

US troops are stationed in the city, a part of the International Coalition against ISIS.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US-led International Coalition, liberated Manbij from ISIS in August 2016.