Kurdish fighters withdraw from Manbij: Syria
Tehran (KNA) - Syria says hundreds of US-backed Kurdish fighters have withdrawn from the city of Manbij near the border with Turkey to take position to the east of the Euphrates.
The Syrian Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that "approximately 400 Kurdish fighters" had left the border town, days after Kurdish groups appealed to the government of President Bashar al-Assad to support them against a possible Turkish offensive.
Their departure was in line with an agreement "for the return of normal life to the area of northern Syria," the ministry said in a statement.
The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) had confirmed earlier that they were evacuating the town, which they seized from the Daesh terrorist group in 2016.
An online video published by the Syrian ministry showed dozens of vehicles carrying armed fighters, some of whom waved flags of the YPG and its female counterpart, the YPJ.
It was not clear how many fighters would remain in Manbij.
Last week, the YPG asked Damascus to deploy troops to the key city following US President Donald Trump's decision to pull American forces out of Syria.
Source: PressTV