Manbij Military Council leader says no sign of Turkish attack on Manbij

“There is nothing going on, the situation is normal, the coalition forces are on the front line together with the Manbij Military Council (MMC) and there are no clashes.”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The commander-in-chief of the Manbij Military Council (MMC), Mohammed Abu Adel, says there is no sign of a Turkish attack on Manbij, despite claims by Turkish-backed rebels on social media.

“There is nothing going on, the situation is normal, the coalition forces are on the front line together with the MMC and there are no clashes,” he told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.

“There is a lot of propaganda and provocations of future attacks on Manbij, but nothing is going on right now.”

According to some sources, Turkish-backed Islamist groups made a lot of military movements near Manbij.

Some reports said both the Ahrar al-Sharqiya and the al-Hamza brigade were mobilizing its troops near the Sajur line.

Saif Abu Bakr, the leader of the Turkish-backed al-Hamza Division, tweeted that the battle had not started yet, but that there were reinforcements.

The military movements come after the Russian army re-established the Russian-Syrian coordination center in Arima on Tuesday while more Syrian army forces reinforced their points there.

An MMC statement, meanwhile, said the Russians withdrew some time ago.

However, the statement added that the presence of the Syrian Arab Army in the western countryside of Arima is nothing new, noting that “recent developments led to a reinforcement and increase of forces that were stationed there.”

“The Syrian Army has been in Arima since last year and increased its troops at its points, with Russian troops arriving at Arima,” MMC head Adel told Kurdistan 24.

Turkey is determined to cross to the east of the Euphrates River as soon as possible, Hurriyet quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as saying on Tuesday.

Turkey has increased its threats after US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops last week.

Meanwhile, senior Kurdish officials have called on the international community to implement a no-fly zone to stop the Turkish threats.

On Tuesday morning, Turkish-backed groups briefly targeted the MMC headquarters on the Sajur river, the Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany