Kurdish-led force announces US-brokered truce in Syria's Manbij

BEIRUT: The Kurdish-led force controlling northeast Syria said Wednesday it had reached a US-brokered ceasefire with Turkish-backed fighters in Manbij, after Islamist-led rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The clashes in Manbij, an Arab-majority city, have killed 218 combatants since Turkish-backed groups launched offensives in the north following the ouster of Assad on Sunday.

“We have reached a ceasefire agreement in Manbij via US mediation,” said Syrian Democratic Forces commander Mazloum Abdi.

He said fighters of the SDF-affiliated Manbij Military Council “will be withdrawn from the area as soon as possible”.

“Our goal is to reach a ceasefire across Syria and start a political process for the future of the country,” Abdi added.

Abdi had told reporters last week that the United Nations had been in touch with the SDF about helping to “shape a political resolution for Syria” as rebels seized power.

The US-backed SDF fighters spearheaded an offensive that defeated the Islamic State group’s self-declared caliphate in Syria in 2019.

Kurdish-led force announces US-brokered truce in Syria’s ManbijKurdish-led force announces US-brokered truce in Syria’s Manbij on Tuesday, US Central Command said its chief General Michael Kurilla had visited US bases and SDF partners in Syria.

Earlier this month, the pro-Turkey fighters seized the strategic northern enclave of Tal Rifaat from Kurdish forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which dominate the SDF, as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Arab-majority Tal Rifaat and Manbij are among three Kurdish-held areas in the north that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had repeatedly threatened to seize.