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On June 4, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces continued the military operation in the area of Manbij in Northern Syria. Kurdish and Arab militias, spearheaded by US special operation forces and backed by US-led coalition warplanes, seized the vilalges of Hayyah Kabirat, Hayyah Saghirat and Umm ‘Idām from ISIS.
The goal of the ongoing operation is to liberate the strategic city of Manbij and cut ISIS forces in Northern Syria off the city of Raqqa.
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Map by Emmanuel
This is going to be a disaster. If CENTCOM couldn’t find enough SDF cannon fodder to throw and Manbij, they should have never started the operation to begin with. Taking over a few villages of 100 people or so isn’t the kind of progress you would expect from a force moving against a well-fortified city like Manbij.
God help these guys if ISIS decides to counterattack them out in scrub farm country, for some reason. They’ll be trapped like rats. ISIS knows exactly where the two escape routes will be. The small, lightly-armed Arab contingent of the SDF can easily be trapped or wiped out completely. No amount of U.S. airpower is going to keep them from being overrun by a much larger ISIS force. And no way are the YPG/YPJ units of the SDF going to throw themselves into this meat grinder for CENTCOM’s land-grabbing. This isn’t about ISIS, it’s about how much Syrian territory CENTCOM can steal for the U.S. via the left-over FSA and hired Arab thugs.
This seems like a colossal tactical blunder rushed into without much thought. Next thing you know, the U.S. will be bombing the hell out of Manbij claiming that they told the civilians to flee – as if that excuses them from war crimes. CENTCOM is never going to admit it screwed up here, even when ISIS grabs a few American prisoners and starts chopping their heads off. Good job turning defeat into an unmitigated disaster, Gen. Votel. That’s what happens when you serve your neocon oligarch masters instead of the will of the U.S. people and the U.S. Constitution.
wtf are you on about? the Manbij operation progresses extremely well and if ISIS does not bite and start pooling troups out of AZAZ pocket back, they will lose Manbij and with it all that area in the north…
Actually, it would mean all that area in the south is cut off. Supplies and reinforcements flow from north to south.
Define ‘progress’. The troops themselves in the Manbij operation are doing extremely well for their size and lack of arms – I admire their efforts and wish them luck. The operation ITSELF is a disaster waiting to happen. Another typical CENTCOM think-tank failure overhyped by the senior staff and cheered on in the clueless western press.
CENTCOM trusts their jihadi head-choppers with warehouses of TOW missiles if they shoot them at Syrian troops. When it comes to ISIS, the US seems to be happy to hand out a few AK-47s and RPGs to the SDF, but nothing ‘dangerous’. They did manage to equip the SDF with a light tank and an APC and got them across the Euphrates. This is the United States – the most prolific manufacturer and dealer of arms in the world.
If I was an Arab SDF guy on the Manbij campaign, I would be convinced by now that the US was herding us to our own slaughter.
Manbij is not a city… The place is a farmer town collection of about 50 houses, a gas station, and a post office… It’s slightly smaller than palmyria… >_>
So a pre-war population of 200,000. I guess that means 4,000 residents per house and a very busy gas station. Can you point out WHICH 50 houses were occupied? It might help the SDF guys: http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.525346&lon=37.959867&z=15&m=b&search=sarrin%2C%20syria
lol, you really think there were 200,000 people there? What they do? count the cockroaches too? Besides, there ain’t nobody gonna be there but targets, and targets’ support…