Final assault against ISIS in Syria's Manbij launched
Captured by ISIS forces in 2014, Manbij has served as a key transit point for foreign fighters.
US-backed forces battling ISIS near the Turkish border in northern Syria said on Friday they had launched a final assault to flush the remaining jihadists out of the city of Manbij.
"This is the last operation and the last assault," said Sharfan Darwish, a spokesman for the Syrian Arab and Kurdish forces.
The Syria Democratic Forces, with air support from a US-led coalition, said last week they had taken almost complete control of Manbij, where a small number of ISIS fighters have been holed up.
This week, the top commander for the coalition fighting ISIS says the terror group’s foreign fighter stronghold in Syria likely will be in complete control of the Syrian Democratic Forces in “a week to weeks.”
“The pocket of enemy resistance shrinks on a daily basis in Manbij,” US Gen Sean MacFarland told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Baghdad. “I don’t give it very long before that operation is concluded.”
Captured by ISIS forces in 2014, Manbij has served as a key transit point for foreign fighters and the trafficking of stolen goods.
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