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On February 24, an unnamed Syrian security forces source told the Russian news outlet Sputnik that the Damascus government and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had reached an agreement, which allows the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to deploy forces in the city of Manbij, over 75km east of the Afrin area.
“The agreement was reached, under which the Syrian Arab Republic’s army will enter the city of Manbij, controlled by the SDF,” the source said, according to Sputnik.
This agreement between the Damascus government and the SDF is likely aimed at countering any future attack of the Turkish Army on Manbij. Top Turkish officials, including the Turkish president, have stated on several occasions that Manbij will be the next target of the Turkish Army after the operation in Afrin.
Sputnik reported on February 22 that the Damascus government and the YPG had agreed on the transfer of control over the town of Tell Rifaat and the villages around it to the SAA. Later, Nouri Mahmud, a spokesman of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) confirmed that the SAA indeed deployed several units in the town.
Currently, several units of the US-led coalition are deployed in key positions around Manbij. They conduct patrols around and even inside the city on a regular basis. Units of the SAA’s border guards also have several observation posts west of Manbij.
Observers believe that the implementation of the alleged agreement between the Damascus government and the SDF will not be easy, as the US-led coalition may not accept an increase of the SAA presence in the area of Manbij.
Great, maybe Erdogan will finally calm down.
Will not happen.
Silly Syrian soldiers sent there to be destroyed only…..
Pfft national sovereignty. Its not in turkeys interest to change borders.
The Syrian Arab Army must take full control over all its borders, and expel all enemy invaders, the United States, Turkey, and foreign jihadi mercenaries.
Maybe now the world and Iraq can start worrying about Kirkuk again. IS is resurging there, the PMU’s cannot keep control and Iraqi army units said to be about to retreat gfrom the region.
After all the brouha of late 2017, will the peshmerga;s be back in Kirkuk and will it all restart again?
Iraq destroyed a reasonably functioning region out of sectarian hegemonism and is failing to be in control. Did we not see this also in summer 2014 in Mosul?
We all know what happened afterwards.
Now you’re playing the let’s blame Iran game as well? Your Kurdish news friends are really swallowing the Cool Aid from their American masters.
The whole Kirkuk affair would not have happened if it weren’t for the KRG holding its independence referendum. If that had not happened, there wouldn’t have been a battle for Kirkuk and the Iraqi army and PMU could have continued focusing on fighting IS instead. But no, Barzani had to prop up his corrupt administration with that referendum.
Figments of your imagination.
ISIS is a goner no matter how US tried to revive it. It is just impossible.
Where you get the such info? Any link?
Mosul 2014 …. was planned by US to give ISIS massive arms as was so obvious The soldiers were TOLD to run by their superiors and they ran ….
Will this happen to PMU ? fat hopes…
The attack which is done in kirkuk is not by isil . It’s by barzani Kurds hiding behind isil mask supported but US . This is all done for oil transportation to israel via turkey by taking kirkuk back in barzani hands. Bcuz Iraqi government transfiring oil from kirkuk to Iran instead of turkey/israeI pipeline. But it will not happen
Dutchy, is that you again? Why don’t you tell us about brave Kurds kicking Turks in Afrin area?
Hallo hoer, over twee weken ben ik weer in Nederland, als je wilt kunnen we ff afspreken om die vieze bek van jou te breken. Als je niet durft, krijg dan de kanker en val dood. Don’t talk shit if you can’t backed up.
>>Observers believe that the implementation of the alleged agreement between the Damascus government and the SDF will not be easy, as the US-led coalition may not accept an increase of the SAA presence in the area of Manbij.<<
On the other hand Manbij is like Afrin, it has no oil or gas and offers no strategic position from which to impede Iranian supply lines into Syria and Lebanon. So methinks, like Afrin, the US has no real interest in this. And since no Kurds live there neither has the YPG. Taking Manbij made sense to them when they were still trying to unite with Afrin into one continuous border zone with Turkey. Now that Afrin will probably be lost, either to Ankara, or to Damascus, Manbij becomes even less important to the Kurds.
Doubt that the SDF made any agreements with the SAA, not logical. Assad is out to reclaim all of Syria and the SDF opposes it.
Perhaps, but the US is interested in the SDF opposing Assad, not the SDF having to fight off the Turks. If handing over Manbij to Assad means no more conflict between the SDF and the Turks then that is a worthy trade off. Like I said, it offers little benefits to the Americans, only problems.
Turkey’s main problem is east of the Euphrates not west where the majority of the YPG and SDF are positioned, the SDF is mainly made up of YPG and terrorists that have joined them.
True, but the Turks seem to be going for the low hanging fruit. Plus taking Afrin and Manbij allows the Turks to do what the YPG wanted all along, create a continuous are of control from Idlib to the Euphrates.
Kurdish forces are PKK, PJAK, Peshmerga and the YPG-J 10-15% the rest of SDF is mostly Arabs and some volunteers (20%) and only a small percentage are Daesh (6%). You must be talking about the New Syrian Army which is being made up from the Daesh and being filled out by forced conscripts. Why the hand over has to do with the number of reconciliations by Manbij and other areas hundreds weekly are leaving SDF to reconcile so this means limited manpower to defend the region and so what if the US gets upset they can cry all they want but a likely a withdrawal will be necessitated to reduce a confrontation they are unable to defend against with Turkey.
Not true , if it avoids SDF and Turks face off means Assad alone has to kick the Kurds /US out and that is tougher. Kurds would not give up the oil and gas areas and other areas of Syria now if Turkey pressure is absent.
Assad need the Kurds to come begging to Assad to prevent complete destruction of the SDF . If just one token to get the Turks off and get killed is really stupid
Silly agreement in my opinion.
SDF would do better to hand off Manbij and Afrin to fellow ABORTION RIGHTS defending TAF than to abortion banning SAA, plus doing so would be even more likely to calm the rest of the Rojava/Turkey border.
They actually did and why you see traansfer of territories to SAA and Syrian government control , just in Australia they don’t get enough information to be able to make a concrete decision. Mine are sources that are close to the ground unlike SOHR more like close to MI5-6 and unreliable sources.
Just read on the Saker that the Kurds are handing over Manbij. My query is in regards to the SDF who have Daesh and other terrorists engaged within their midst, can’t see them agreeing with the Kurds who are loyal to Syria.
Well the Kurds have left Aleppo and are handing over Manbij as it’s unpopular to remain there as people there would prefer some YPG left in body bags. The majority of Kurds support the Syrian government and only a minority do for the YPG and none of them want to be considered terrorists considering the murders and genocide of long time neighbors by these SDF Kurds whom are largely foreign Kurds of Turkey ,Iraq , Iran and elsewhere this is where Turkey gets the idea they are terrorists.
Those groups like the FSA ,ISIS/Al Qaeda/HTS/SLF are not in the equation they are non residents in Syria, so how can they have a say at all. The Syrian Arabs are pushing for this right now and they are the only ones that count and Kurds in the US control zone are pushing for a reunification, US is terrified if this becomes common knowledge they silence all dissent in the region.
The term Daesh covers all of the terrorist groups as it is used commonly. Most of those are being filtered into Yemen and Afghanistan s we speak. So they don’t play any real role except the Tripartie that rules NATO and the UN those have me more worried as they can become unstable very quickly and belligerent.
yeah with the lost of connecting afrin and the rest there isn’t much point in manbij for the kurds and the US. but for the kurds it wont be so easy. kurds are worried about their losses. they lost large areas of afrin and alleppo. if they also retreat from manbij this could affect more territory losses for the future.
Trump will never accept Syrians in Syria like Palestinians in Palestine and Iraqies in Iraq. This 72 year old guy Trump is a big threat to the nations of Middle East.
Except that Clinton was a far bigger threat to initiate direct confrontation with Russia and Syria. Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, Libyans, and Syrians speak to that truth.
Good point, but SDF and US should still have an interest in defending ABORTION RIGHTS in Manbij to prevent human wave attacks, and hordes of refugees invading Rojava, Europe and the US.
Lmao. Another fake announcement. Who is the source. I’m literally tired of Mayadan and other pro-SAA media. For god sake atleast report credible stuff man. This is annoying.
This is the 100th time I heard Manjib agreement has been signed from SAA sources just within last week.
The truth is that Tillerson and Erdogan have discussed that and have agreement on Manjib.
My thoughts also, can’t see it happening since the SDF opposes Syria reclaiming their territory and it is the Syrian government’s best interest not to negotiate any agreements with terrorists which the SDF is comprised of or the US.
Really in my opinion it is really strange SAA will agree to place themselves in Manjib at this stage.
SAA is relieving and helping the US coalition actually not Syria as US coalition cannot fight Turks as if they do so, bye bye US bases …
So stupid. Really .
Clever play by the US. They have the SAA come in as a buffer, mitigating the need for a confrontation with the Turks. very smart.
“Manbij ???”…..lol, what could possibly go wrong ?.
In my view, this is a bl00dy brilliant move, one that I certainly was not expecting.
Manbij and all the are west of the river was given to Erdagon by the Americans, as Afrin, Therefore, YPG made the right decision. later time, YPG and SAA should kick out the americans
later time, YPG and SAA should kick out the americans
this step would be great, but i doubt. :(
Trump wont oppose it
The big problem for the SDF is that it is hemorrhaging. Reliable sources are pegging their losses at 20% of Afrin now being held by the TAF and Co.. A week after the operation started, a bunch of folks were giggling at the TAF. Nobody is laughing now, in a fashion, except Syria, Russia, Iran and Turkey. The YPG is being bled white with no end in sight. Territory has begun to be transferred to SAA control, such as in Aleppo. Now it looks like it is continuing.
Even another month of this will crush the YPG supply and medical systems. Three more months of this party and the YPG/SDF will be way short of guys, with most of Afrin gone. In reality, this may turn out to be a giant drain which pulls PKK out of Turkey. The US played the Kurds to the max. Just like the Iraqi Kurds, who eventually were brought to bow before the Iranians, the Syrian Kurds are learning what it means to go with the foreigner and flourish, thinking they untouchable with the locals. My take on it, I wish well to all.
Sounds about right.
What happened and many people don’t realize this but the real reason is because of the work of the reconciliation center has had many Arab SDF fighters and Kurd fighters reconciling with Syrian Government. When it’s a few hundred a week this can be debilitating on the SDF and FSA why you see them merging with HTS to fill out the losses.So assuming this is happening and these regions means they don’t have much support for the SDF and many more areas will be turned over.
Much of Turkey’s claims include murdered civilians so never truly believe the Turks in any numbers they say. The SDF Kurds sees no tactical advantage remaining west of the Euphrates as they have little support in the region. They were suckered in by the US and they are more worried about losing their leverage to the NeoSyArmy(DAESH) as there are ongoing conflicts supported by the USUK France NATO Coalition against SDF group.
The Iraqi Kurds were brought low by their own folly and Israeli Hubris in believing they had the advantage and Iraqi Government is no slouch neither are their ISF/IPMF. The US didn’t bank on the unified stance of the Syrian/Iraqi/Iranian pact secular societies have a tendency to stand together in support when their regional stability is imperative for the survival of the Middle East.They were told they were shattered and destroyed didn’t seem that case at the time.
The US believed their own think tanks and military advisers as credible sources of knowledge on the Middle East. Some Hubris is too great at times as we can see how far out of touch with reality they truly are, yet we see all their attempts fraught with disastrous outcomes and continuous attempts being easily brushed aside as not compatible with what is actually happening.
Well all we can do is watch from the sidelines and hope for the best as our governments seem to be out of touch with the common people as always as our opinions don’t mean much.
The U.S. military will not share space with the Syrian or Russian forces. If they are not leaving, the deal is dead. If they did leave, turkey will invade and wipe out the Syrian army. Even now Syrian convoys to afrin are taking loses and they will not hold the surrounding lands of afrin. Afrin itself might survive, but will get surrounded and under siege.
This is a step in the right direction, I hope that it happens or is happening. Syrian government administration needs to be restored in all Kurdish held areas. And the Kurdish, Israelistan threat to Turkey and Syria eliminated.