...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
threatened another military incursion.
The multiethnic city lies 40 kilometers from the
Article Eight of the 10-point Sochi agreement of 2019 specifically mentions Manbij (along with Tal Rifaat) stipulating ''all YPG [People’s Protection Units] and their weapons be removed.''
Strategically important, Manbij lies at the intersection of the M4 highway which strategically connects Aleppo to Raqqa, up to The
With an Arab majority, Kurds, Armenians Turkmens, Circassians and Chechens also live in the city and its outskirts.
During the uproar sweeping Syria, the city was first controlled by moderate Syrian groups in July 2012 after expelling Syrian regime forces. In January 2014, it fell to the then expanding Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS).
After grueling battles that lasted for months, Kurdish and Arab fighters of the newly established Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dislodged the caliphate in August 2016. Since then, it is run by a civil administration and the Manbij Military Council - an affiliate of the SDF.
However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
Manbij is desired by Erdogan as one of the two alleged targets (besides Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo) of the imminent, though temporarily shelved,
To deter
The
On the very same day
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
and factions of the Free Syrian Amy (FSA) announced the liberation of Jarablus (August 24, 2017) as part of Operation Euphrates Shield, then US Vice President Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S. Being a self-defined foreign policy whiz kid means never having to say you're sorry...who was visiting Ankara said in a presser that Kurdish forces must leave Manbij to the east of the Euphrates River.
Though Biden’s remarks were aimed at reconciling Washington and Ankara, they were still perceived as a US promise.
Through Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkey succeeded in bisecting the Kurdish enclaves in western Euphrates (Afrin and Manbij) which the Kurdish forces were seeking to connect to the area under their control. Now, Turkey wants Kurdish-led forces be removed to the east of River Euphrates.
The other version of the story tells that any loss of the city of Manbij will disrupt the political landscape of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
Manbij continues to be one of the disputed and simmering points that contributed to deteriorating US-Turkey relations.
In June 2018 an understanding was reached between then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and
accordingly, independent U.S. and
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
The Sajur River is the de facto frontline between
Time and again Ankara accused Washington of being slow in implementing the agreement. The city has now turned into a bargaining chip for the U.S. to ease relations with Turkey.
In January 2019, four Americans who were on a foot patrol were killed in a suicide kaboom in Manbij.
Later in the year, the U.S. troops withdrew from Manbij following an abrupt announcement made by President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
To pre-empt a potential
Since then the fate of the city remains uncertain, arousing fears of a possible return of the Syrian regime to the city.
Economically, Manbij is Rojava's primary gateway for trade to areas held by the regime forces and those of the Euphrates Shied.
For the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES),
...the Kurds...
Manbij is vital as an indispensable economic artery that feeds the area with all basic day—to-day life needs.Without Manbij, trade with the Syrian regime would be done through other means, but options are few and may deny Rojava financial resources.
From a
Politically, any
In the territorial sense of the word, the loss of further swathes of lands would be disruptive and divisive
...politicians call things
divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never
divisive,they're
principled...
and could erode belief in the Autonomous Administration as a viable one.
In the current context, it is unlikely that Erdogan would move troops to the south without the approval of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
. This would make Manbij part of a territorial swap deal more likely in return for a territorial concession in Idlib.
With the Syrian crisis since 2011 been a simmering sticking point in the US-
Related:
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Manbij: 2022-07-13 Syrian And Russian Forces Send Military Reinforcements To Manbij
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