Coalition forces announce withdrawal from Manbij, Syria

ANKARA

Amid Turkey’s anti-terror operation in northern Syria, the U.S.-led anti-Daesh coalition on Tuesday announced its withdrawal from Manbij, Syria, an area targeted by Turkey for clearing YPG/PKK terrorists.

"Coalition forces are executing a deliberate withdrawal from northeast Syria. We are out of Manbij," Col. Myles B. Caggins III, Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) spokesman for the 81-member coalition to Defeat Daesh, said on Twitter.

U.S. forces have been leaving Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring zone since Oct. 6, when U.S. President Donald Trump said they would withdraw.

U.S. forces had been allied with the terrorist YPG/PKK to defeat Daesh, an alliance Turkey long criticized as both immoral and irrational.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said Turkey aims to clear northern Syria of terrorists stretching from the city of Manbij to the Iraqi-Turkish border and to provide voluntary resettlement of around 3 million Syrians to their home.

Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.

Ankara wants to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates River of the terrorist PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD/YPG.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.