“Two members of the pro-Turkey factions were killed and others were injured after violent clashes broke out with the forces of the Manbij Military Council … near al-Sayadah village in western Manbij countryside,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor.
The Manbij Military Council is a local Kurdish-led force affiliated with the SDF in Arab-majority Manbij. Security in Kurdish-controlled areas in north and northeast Syria is managed through military councils led by locals to maintain the delicate balance of the region and prevent Arab discontent.
The clashes come amid an increased surge of violence near Manbij between Kurdish-led forces and Turkish-backed militants, according to SOHR
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 in northern Syria to seize 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 has carried out 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).
