Illustrative image.
On January 22, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) established six new posts to the west of the key town of Manbij in the northern Aleppo countryside, which is held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The positions were reportedly established around the village of Qurt, which is located some 20 kilometers to the west of Manbij right on the front with Turkish-occupied areas in the northern Aleppo countryside. Through the Taiha crossing, which links government and SDF held areas, the SAA deployed military equipment and around 200 troops in the new posts.
The SAA move near Manbij came amid tensions between the SDF and the Turkish military, who have been exchanging blows in the northern Aleppo countryside for a few weeks now.
Just two days earlier, a series of artillery and rocket strikes hit SDF positions in the region in response to indirect fire attacks that targeted two Turkish bases there. The Turkish Ministry of National Defense claimed that the strikes “neutralized” at least 11 Kurdish fighters.
Ankara, who is currently engaged in Russian mediated talks with Damascus, renewed threats of a new ground operation in Syria earlier this month.
The SAA has been deployed around Manbij since Turkey first threatened the town in 2018. The army recent moves near the town may be meant to assure the SDF, or to mount more pressure on Ankara who is yet to pull its troops out from the northwestern region of Greater Idlib, which is occupied by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
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