Northern Syria:

US Sets up New Base in Manbij amid Turkish Military Threats

TEHRAN (defapress)- The US army has set up a new military base in Manbij region in Northeastern Aleppo as the Turkish army prepares for an imminent assault on the Kurdish-held town, sources from the local population disclosed on Tuesday.

News ID: 69510

Date: 03 April 2018 - 13:50

The sources said that the coalition has established a new military base in al-Awn region North of the town of Manbij along the regions occupied by the Turkey-led Euphrates Shield forces.

The sources went on to say that the US and French forces that have recently arrived in Manbij are expected to deploy in the new base.

They added that US and French forces have dispatched a sum of 300 soldiers and a large number of armored vehicles and heavy military equipment to a region in Northern Aleppo between Manbij and territories controlled by the Euphrates Shield forces.

In the meantime, the US troops have embarked on patrolling in a region between the Kurdish-held regions and the regions occupied by the Euphrates Shield forces near Sajour River and along Syria's border with Turkey.

The development comes after the French president announced a hike in the number of French forces deployed in Northern Syria after his Turkish counterpart threatened to occupy the Kurd-held Manbij.

Militant-affiliated sources reported on Tuesday that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forwarded more gunmen and military hardware to the strategic town of Manbij in Northern Syria amid Turkey's move to purge the town of the Kurds.

The sources said that the SDF dispatched a new convoy of fighters and military equipment from Kurdish-held regions in Northern and Eastern Syria to Manbij in Northeastern Aleppo on Sunday.

In the meantime, Smart news reported that a convoy of six personnel carrier vehicles, several armored vehicles and truck carrying a large volume of arms and ammunition, two vehicles carrying cannons and four US military vehicles equipped with radars crossed Qaraqozaq bridge and moved towards Manbij.