French Special Forces to be deployed in Manbij very quickly: Macron to Syrian Kurdistan delegation

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to send troops to Syria in support of the US-led coalition to block any further advance by Turkey who has promised to continue its military offensive east of Afrin.

In a meeting with Kurdish and Arab representatives in Syria, Macron expressed his country's readiness to send French troops to support the US-led Coalition in Syria, which includes the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), Paris-based news magazine Marianne said.

A delegation representing the Kurdish, Arab, and Christian components of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) held talks with the French Presidency on Thursday to discuss the situation in the country’s north, Reuters reported quoting Kurdish officials in Paris.

According to the report, Macron met with a Rojava delegation, including members of the YPG, at the Élysée. The delegation had arrived in Paris two days ago. 

Accompanied by his special chief of staff, Admiral Roger, Macron announced that he would send French Special Forces to Manbij in coordination with the US, another report by Le Parisien said.

An unidentified number of French troops will be deployed “very quickly,” Macron assured the Rojava delegation, according to a Kurdish representative who attended the meeting.

The French Presidency has not yet confirmed the news.

Turkey’s National Security Council headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday threatened that Ankara would “take action” to drive out Kurdish groups in Syria.

“Turkey will not hesitate to use initiative if terrorists in Manbij are not driven away,” a statement on Erdogan’s presidential website read, warning the US whose special forces continue to work with Kurdish-led groups in the northern Syrian town.

Ankara’s offensive against the YPG in Afrin appeared to reach its climax on March 18 when the Turkish forces and their allied rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters declared full control of the Kurdish-held enclave.

Erdogan has vowed to continue the operation against the Kurdish forces which he ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), threatening to advance further east into Manbij and Iraq’s Shingal region.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany