“Clashes between Kurdish forces on one hand and factions loyal to Turkey on the other hand … and artillery shelling between the two parties resulted in the injury of a number of members,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor.
The Manbij Military Council, a local force affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), oversees security in Arab-majority Manbij. Security in Kurdish-controlled areas in north and northeast Syria is managed through military councils led by locals to maintain the delicate balance of the region and prevent Arab discontent.
The clashes come amid an increased surge of violence near Manbij between Kurdish-led forces and Turkish-backed militants, according to SOHR.
Turkey has long viewed strategic Manbij, located at the crossroads connecting Aleppo, Raqqa, and the Kurdish-administered northeast, as a key zone to launch its next military operation to seize northern Syria from Kurdish forces.
On February 19, two Turkish-backed militants were killed in clashes with the Manbij Military Council in the city’s countryside.
In 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled the Manbij and Tal Rifaat as Ankara’s next targets in order to complete its long-desired 30-kilometer “safe zone” along the southern border.
Turkey accuses the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, of being the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Ankara has carried out three military operations against Kurdish forces in northern Syria since 2016, invading key towns near the border such as Afrin, Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain), and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad).