Kurdish and Arab militias seized full control of the northern Syrian city of Manbij after fierce fighting with ISIS militants, a rights group reported Saturday.
The militias are combing the city, searching for remaining ISIS militants, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
U.S. officials describe Manbij as a strategic supply point for ISIS, and the terror group’s principal hub between Raqqa, the capital of its self-declared caliphate, and Turkey.
Rebel forces launched the offensive to take back Manbij in early June.
“Cut them off there and they’re totally isolated in Raqqa. So it’s critical, strategic, and we have now launched an operation long in planning to go after it,” an official told CNN at the time.
It’s yet another stronghold ISIS has given up in recent months after the loss of parts of Sirte in Libya, and Falluja in Iraq.