Turkish drone bombs Manbij Military Council positions

According to a statement released by the press office of the Manbij Military Council (MMC) on Tuesday, a Turkish drone has bombed positions on the “Sajur Front” in the northwest of Manbij for the fourth time.

On Monday evening, the village of Tukhar was also bombed by the Turkish army. While drones continue to hover over the region, information about the consequences of the bombings is not yet available.

The Sajur river is the border between the autonomous federation of northern and eastern Syria and the Turkish occupation zone. Its headwaters meet south of Gaziantep in northern Kurdistan. Sajur flows into the Euphrates in the area of the Tishrin Dam.

Ethnic and linguistic mosaic

Manbij is an ethnic and linguistic mosaic whose population consists of about 70 per cent Arabs, 20 per cent Kurds, five per cent Turkmen and a small number of Circassians and Armenians. The populations have been divided for decades by tribalist conservative policies promoted by the Syrian regime. During the years under ISIS control, this policy of division intensified.

Until its liberation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in August 2016, Manbij represented an important location for ISIS, as a large part of its supply and foreign trade relations took place via the Turkish border. The liberation of Manbij meant the disruption of supplies to ISIS by the regime in Ankara and heralded the end of the self-proclaimed caliphate’s territorial rule in spring 2019. The region is defended by the Manbij Military Council, an affiliate of the SDF, against the permanent attacks of the Turkish army and its Islamist mercenaries. All population groups are represented in the Manbij Civil Council, and the principle of gender-equal dual leadership applies in all bodies.