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Former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has endorsed Trump-backed Republican Joe Kent for a U.S. House seat from Washington state.“My friend Joe Kent is a fighter,” Gabbard said in an ad endorsing Kent. "He's dedicated his life to ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people and our country. With your vote, Joe's going to go to Washington and work tirelessly to secure the border and bring you and your loved ones peace of mind."Joe Kent is a former Green Beret and the husband of fallen soldier Shannon Kent, who was killed in the 2019 Manbij bombing...

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a deal has been reached through which Syrian government forces will protect the Kurdish-held towns of Kobani and Manbij. US troops had been deployed in both towns since they were cleared of "Islamic State" (IS) militants in 2015. However, last week US President Donald Trump made the surprise announcement that he was pulling the US military out of Kurdish Syria, leaving a key US ally in the fight against IS vulnerable to the Turkish army. Turkey, which has been fighting an off-and-on insurgency from armed Kurdish groups in its own...

Full translation of an article by Syrian Islamist outlet al-Durar al-Shamiya:" A new covert operation for the Free Army in Manbij .. A source reveals the details (Photos)al-Durar al-Shamiya:Last night, elements of the Free [Syrian] Army carried out a covert operation in the city of Manbij in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, which is under the control of the SDF militia.A security source in the Free [Syrian] Army of the al-Duarr al-Shamiya Network: "The covert activities in the areas under the control of SDF militia are varied, and perhaps the most influential is the assassination of leaders of this occupying...

ERBIL– Senior local officials in the northern Syrian city of Manbij said that both the US-led coalition and the Russian military police are operating in the area, including conducting regular patrols.Manbij Military Council (MMC) Commander Mohammed Abu Adel told Kurdistan 24 that there have been no changes on the ground regarding coordination with US forces and joint patrols, both of which continue.“We also have contact with Russian troops in Manbij. But there is only the internal security forces and Manbij Military Council forces that are deployed on the ground in Manbij,” Adel said.Since Monday, Russian military police units have been patrolling a 5...

Russian military police have begun patrolling around the Syrian city of Manbij, a spokesman said Tuesday, moving into an area once held by US-backed Kurdish forces. Russian forces are acting in support of Syrian government troops who recently deployed in Manbij, in Aleppo province near the border with Turkey. Kurdish fighters, fearing a Turkish military assault, invited regime forces into Manbij late last month after US President Donald Trump’s shock announcement of a full American withdrawal from Syria.

The Syrian regime said Wednesday hundreds of Kurdish fighters had withdrawn from Manbij near the border with Turkey... "The information (we have) indicates that nearly 400 Kurdish fighters have left Manbij so far." The People's Protection Units (YPG), the main Kurdish militia in Syria, last week invited regime forces to deploy to the key city following a shock announcement that American troops would leave the country.

US forces are reportedly evacuating their military base near al-Hasakah; The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) still press their operation against ISIS in the Hajin pocket.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army deployed forces near Manbij in northern Syria on Friday, a war monitor and a U.S. official said, after the Kurdish YPG militia urged Damascus to protect the town, where U.S. forces operate, from the threat of a Turkish offensive. Manbij, which U.S.-backed forces captured from Islamic State in 2016, has emerged as a focal point of new tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces whose presence has effectively deterred Turkey. After a Syrian army announcement declaring government troops had entered Manbij, Turkey-backed Syrian rebels stationed in nearby territory said they...

Turkish and US troops began joint patrols around the northern Syrian town of Manbij on Thursday, even as Turkey continued to shell nearby positions held by Washington’s Kurdish allies. Turkish military advances into northern Syria over the past two years have put US forces directly in the path of advancing troops from Turkey, Washington's main NATO ally in the region.The two countries have been working to avert direct confrontation, even as Turkey aims to crush the Kurdish YPG militia. Considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the YPG forms the main part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that Washington backs...

The United States is committed to ensuring the exit of Kurdish forces from the area of northern Syria west of the Euphrates river, and will work with Turkey to do so as soon as possible, senior officials from the U.S. State Department have said. The officials’ statements to press officials seemed rather vague compared to the precisely described plans announced by Turkish officials, however, particularly on the time frame for the withdrawal. The two unnamed U.S. State Department officials held the press briefing via teleconference on Tuesday, covering in depth the U.S.-Turkish Working Group on Syria and the agreement announced...

Special BriefingSenior State Department Officials Via Teleconference June 5, 2018 MODERATOR: Good morning, and thanks so much for joining us for today’s background call on the U.S.-Turkish working group on Syria. Joining us today we have [Senior State Department Official One]. He’ll be referred to as Senior State Department Official One. Also joining us is [Senior State Department Official Two]. He’ll be referred to as Senior State Department Official Number Two. As a reminder, the call is on background and the contents of the call are embargoed until the call ends. With that, I’ll hand it over to our Senior...

The Syrian Kurdish YPG on Tuesday said it will leave Manbij after Turkey and the United States the day prior agreed on the militia’s withdrawal.Turkey has long demanded the YPG withdraw from Syria’s northern border with the nation. In a new roadmap agreed upon by Ankara and Washington on Monday, the Syrian Kurds will leave and the U.S. and Turkey will jointly maintain security in the city.“We affirm that our forces will heed the call when necessary to offer support and help to the people of Manbij should it be needed,” the YPG said in a statement. The YPG said fighters left Manbij...

MANBIJ, Syria – For more than two years, ISIS forces who occupied this northern Syrian city paid little attention to the tip of an old gate on an empty mound of land where they dumped trash. They were clueless the gate ran several feet into the ground down to something they might well have destroyed had they known: The ruins of an ancient Christian refuge, or early church, possibly dating back to the first centuries of Christendom’s existence, under the Roman Empire. “I was so excited, I can’t describe it. I was holding everything in my hands,” Abdulwahab Sheko, head...

French special operations troops have moved into two US Syrian bases, Manbij and Remelin, as the US boosts its lines against Turkey. While US President Donald Trump was saying Tuesday, April 3, that he would “decide very quickly” to remove US troops from Syria, our exclusive military sources report that US Marines were heading toward the northern Syrian town of Manbij as reinforcements against Turkish inroads. They took up positions along the Sajur River, one of the three tributaries that feed the Euphrates River in Syria from sources in Turkey. This action blocked the Turkish army’s land access to Manbij,...

President Trump is telling the U.S. military to prepare for the withdrawal of troops from Syria, but has chosen not to pull American forces until ISIS is absolutely defeated. U.S. officials say the president was hesitant about keeping the 2,000 troops in the war torn country, but did so in an effort to commit to his promise to destroy the Islamic State. A U.S. soldier sits in an armored vehicle on a road leading to the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. President Donald Trump expects to decide “very quickly” whether to...

On the outskirts of Syria's Manbij, Kurdish-led fighters have dug trenches and US-led coalition soldiers patrol from land and sky after Turkey threatened to overrun the northern city. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to launch an attack on the city, near which US troops are stationed as part of their support to a Kurdish-led alliance fighting jihadists. Pro-Ankara Syrian rebels control territory to the north and west of the city held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance.

MANBIJ, SYRIA/WASHINGTON — As part of the global coalition against Islamic State, the United States this week increased its special operations troops in the flashpoint town of Manbij in northern Syria. In an email Thursday to VOA, Col. Thomas F. Veale, a U.S. military spokesperson and public affairs director for the coalition, said the recent deployment is a protection measure to ensure the safety of coalition troops in the area. “Coalition forces are establishing a joint coordination mechanism for operations there, through the coalition's official relationship with the Manbij Military Council,” Veale said. Manbij, in northern Syria, has recently become...

A US service member and a member of the UK armed forces were killed in an improvised explosive device attack in the Manbij area of Syria on Thursday. A US official with knowledge of the initial reports from the battlefield told CNN the American had been killed. The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed the British death in a statement saying the soldier was embedded with US forces on a counter ISIS operation when the incident occurred.

A US service member was killed in an improvised explosive device attack in the Manbij, Syria, area on Thursday, a US official with knowledge of the initial reports from the battlefield tells CNN. Two members of the US-led coalition in Syria were killed and five were wounded in the attack, the coalition said. The official said that multiple vehicles were involved in the IED incident. The coalition said details about the incident are being withheld pending further investigation and that the names of those killed will be released "at the discretion of the pertinent national authorities."

It is a terrible thing to be a people without a state or province to call its own. Just ask the Kurds, who now find themselves under the hell of Turkey's ruthless ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who may as well be one of the Turkish sultans of the past. For he has unleashed a campaign of genocidal fury against people of his ever-expanding realm. And no one can say the world hasn't been given fair warning of his genocidal intentions. At latest report, his troops and some Syrian puppets under his control were driving farther and farther east, planning to...