The operation will also count on support from U.S.-led coalition air
strikes as well as from ground-based firing positions across the border
in Turkey.
Fighters of the People"s Protection Units (YPG) walk with their weapons in the city of Qamishli, Syria April 21, 2016.Thousands of U.S.-backed fighters in Syria are launching an offensive to capture from Islamic State a crucial swathe of northern Syria known as the Manbij pocket following weeks of quiet preparations, U.S. officials disclosed to Reuters.
The operation, which only just started
to get underway on Tuesday and could take weeks to complete, aims to
choke off Islamic State's access to Syrian territory along the Turkish
border that militants have long used as a logistics base for moving
foreign fighters back and forth to Europe.
"It's significant in that it's their last remaining funnel" to Europe, a U.S. military official said.
A
small number of U.S. special operations forces will support the
offensive on the ground, acting as advisors and staying some distance
back from the front lines, the officials said, speaking on condition of
anonymity to discuss military planning.
"They'll
be as close as they need to be for the (Syrian fighters) to complete
the operation. But they will not engage in direct combat," the official
said.
The operation will also count on support
from U.S.-led coalition air strikes as well as from ground-based firing
positions across the border in Turkey.
Perhaps
essential for NATO ally Turkey, the operation will be overwhelmingly
comprised of Syrian Arabs instead of forces with the Kurdish YPG
militia, who will only represent about a fifth or a sixth of the overall
force, the officials said.
Ankara considers the
Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters to be terrorists and has been enraged by
U.S. backing for the militia in its battle with Islamic State in Syria.
YPG TO WITHDRAW
Turkey
has been alarmed by advances by Kurdish forces along its border and
opposed the idea of YPG fighters taking control of the Manbij pocket.
The Kurdish YPG militia already controls an uninterrupted 400 km (250
mile) stretch the border.
The officials told
Reuters, however, the YPG will only fight to help clear Islamic State
from the area around Manbij. Syrian Arab fighters would be the ones to
stabilise and secure it once Islamic State is gone, according to the
operational plans.
"After they take Manbij, the
agreement is the YPG will not be staying ... So you'll have Syrian Arabs
occupying traditional Syrian Arab land," the official said, adding
Turkey supported the offensive.
The operation
comes ahead of an eventual push by the U.S.-backed Syrian forces towards
the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State's defacto capital in Syria and the
prime objective in Syria for U.S. military planners.
The
U.S. military official said depriving Islamic State of the Manbij
pocket would help further isolate the militants and further undermine
their ability to funnel supplies to Raqqa.
U.S. President Barack Obama
has authorized about 300 U.S. special operations forces to operate on
the ground from secret locations inside Syria to help coordinate with
local forces to battle Islamic State there.
In a reminder of the risks, one U.S. service member was injured north of Raqqa over the weekend, the Pentagon said.
Source: Pulse.ng
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