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Arab, Kurdish forces liberate northern Syrian city of Manbij: Group

Saturday, 06 August 2016 8:35 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 06 August 2016 10:11 AM ]

Kurdish and Arab fighters prepare a rocket-launcher as they advance into Manbij, in northern Syria, June 23, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces has reportedly managed to retake the strategic northern Syrian city of Manbij from Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) managed to take “almost complete control” of the area, located 446 kilometers (277 miles) north of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Saturday.

The Britain-based group said there are still pockets of Daesh militants present in the center of Manbij.

The development came a day after SDF forces made significant advances in the city.

Manbij lies along the only supply line of Daesh between the Syrian-Turkish border to the north and the group’s main stronghold in Syria, Raqqah, which lies to the southeast.

Its liberation marks the biggest strategic defeat for Daesh in Syria since July 2015, when the terrorist group lost the strategically important town of Tal Abyad on Syria’s border with Turkey.

The Syria Democratic Forces launched an operation to retake Manbij two months ago. The city had been under Daesh control for more than two years.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The United Nations (UN)’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Back in 2014, the UN said it would no more update its death toll for Syria because it could not verify the figures that it received from various sources.

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