ISIS militants have lost control of the key Syrian city of Manbij to US-backed rebels and appear to be using civilians as human shields as they flee, the Pentagon said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces backed by the United States, had battled to take control of Manbij in northern Syria since May and hundreds have been freed in this latest mission, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The joy that has come with residents’ newfound freedom could be felt on the streets of Manbij’s liberated neighborhoods.
Dozens of women in black niqabs — which are similar to burkas but leave the eye area uncovered — were photographed being freed by the armed rebels, many of them carrying babies, some overwhelmed and in tears.
One woman set fire to her niqab, while another lit up a cigarette and smoked with a wide grin.
Men joyfully trimmed their beards, having been forced to grow them under ISIS control.
A Pentagon statement Friday said that ISIS had lost control of Manbij, while the chief of the US mission to fight ISIS, Brett McGurk, tweeted that the city center had been liberated.
He also said that ISIS was losing ground in its Libyan stronghold, Sirte.
There are “still pockets of opposition” in the Manbij’s north, the Pentagon’s Deputy Press Secretary Gordon Trowbridge said in Friday’s statement, but ISIS is “clearly on the ropes.”
‘Significant milestone’
ISIS seized control of Manbij city in Aleppo province about two years ago. Defeating the militants there essentially blocks a supply route ISIS has between its heartland of Raqqa and Turkey.
Manbij has been used as a hub for recruiting and processing foreign fighters, Trowbridge said. Militants also use it “for dispatching operatives across the Turkish border for potential use in external operations,” according to the Pentagon statement.
“That … is a major setback for ISIL at the hands of our partners the SDF, including thousands of Syrian Arab troops that are fighting to liberate their own homes. It is also the latest significant milestone in the coalition’s efforts to cut off and eliminate a hub of ISIL activity located outside Syria,” Trowbridge said. US government officials refer to ISIS as ISIL.
The SDF had flushed most of the ISIS militants from Manbij by last week, but on Friday the last of the militants began to flee.
Trowbridge fell short of declaring the city fully liberated, but he described an ISIS defeat there as “inevitable.”
The SDF, however, claimed the whole city liberated.
“It is now time for the good news, news that terrorism has been taken out of Manbij city. The city is now fully under our control,” SDF spokesman Sharvan Darwesh said on his Facebook page Saturday.
Human shields?
The Pentagon said it had received reports that fighters were mixing with civilians to use them as human shields, but added it has not been able to verify the reports.
Other reports say the militants are fleeing in vehicles and are keeping civilians close as a way to prevent being bombarded.
“ISIL has consistently shown a willingness to put innocent lives at risk in blatant violation not only of the laws of armed conflict but of common human decency,” he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the deaths of 1,744 civilians and fighters in Manbij since May 31.
The United States backs the SDF with airstrikes as well as arms and military training.
Since May 21, the SDF has liberated more than 1,000 square kilometers of territory from ISIS and taken out more than 600 fortified fighting positions, Trowbridge said.