US Special Forces Deployed in Manbij Despite Trump's Claims about Pullout

Several photos and footage published by Directorate 4, a group which monitors the situation in Syria and Iraq, shows the US army has deployed special forces in the disputed city of Manbij in Northern Aleppo province.

The images show the US troops speaking to militias and walking through populated areas in Manbij, the next target of the Turkish army and its allied militants after they recently captured another Aleppo town in Northern Syria, Afrin.

Tensions are on rise between Turkey and the US after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Ankara plans to expand the scope of its invasion of the Kurdish-held territories in Syria from Afrin to Manbij where thousands of US military forces are deployed. Washington has made contradictory comments about its true intention for Manbij. While some US administration officials have mentioned efforts to work out some joint plans with Turkey to avoid direct confrontation, army commanders stress that they they have no intention to leave Manbij despite Turkey’s pledge to clear Kurdish fighters from the strategic town in Northern Syria.

As Trump spoke of a rapid withdrawal from the Arab country in the near future, CNN has reported that the US military has been working on plans to send dozens of additional troops to Northern Syria.

The US President in late March made a surprise announcement that American forces will be withdrawing from Syria, citing the defeat of ISIL and the need to defend the country's borders and rebuild crumbling infrastructure.

Washington and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. The United States has reportedly more than 2,000 troops stationed in Eastern Syria, in addition to several thousand others in the Arab country's North.

Syria has on several occasions written to the UN, complaining that the US was flagrantly violating its sovereignty. Washington supports militants fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and has repeatedly attacked Syrian army positions.