New Convoy of US, French Forces Arrive in Kurdish-Held Manbij

Arabic-language Smart news website reported that a new convoy of the US and French army troops, including 18 military and armored vehicles, have been sent to Manbij from their base in the town of Tal Abyadh in Northern Raqqa.

The website further said that the newly-arrived convoy of the US and French forces moved towards the village of Khatab Northwest of Manbij.

In the meantime, other field sources reported that a US convoy, including several trucks carrying vehicles, ambulances and cement barriers crossed Simalka passageway at Iraq-Syria border and entered Kurdish-held regions.

They pointed out that the Simalka border-crossing is mainly used for transferring military hardware.

US President Donald Trump had recently vowed to withdraw the country's military forces from Syria.      

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Ankara would continue its operation in Syria until Kurdish forces leave Syria's Manbij region.

"I would like to repeat that unless we ensure security in all the regions controlled by the YPG [the Kurdish People's Protection Units] first of all, in Manbij, we will not stop," Erdogan said at the trilateral Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syria.

The President noted that the three guarantor states' leaders agreed on the necessity to preserve Syria's territorial integrity.

He mentioned that they also had worked out some steps on Syrian settlement, however, without providing details.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Erdogan held their second trilateral meeting on Syrian settlement in Ankara. Iran, Russia, and Turkey are the three guarantor states of the ceasefire in Syria, which has been mired in a violent war since 2011, and active participants of the Astana format of the Syrian reconciliation.

The Turkish National Security Council has warned that Ankara would push its operation in the Northern district of Afrin further to Manbij, if the Kurdish YPG forces, supported by the United States, did not leave the region. Turkey considers YPG militia to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara.