ISISKurdish forces fight to retake Syria's “Little London”
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday said that ISIS fighters have used the northern Syrian city of Manbij as a base to plan attacks against the West. U.S. Special Forces have joined Kurdish fighters in surrounding the militants’ stronghold. Manbij has earned the name “Little London” because of the many Britons who have made it their homes after joining ISIS.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday said that ISIS fighters have used the northern Syrian city of Manbij as a base to plan attacks against the West. U.S. Special Forces have joined Kurdish fighters in surrounding the militants’ stronghold.
Carter said that the militants in Manbij had been responsible for “external plotting” against Europe, the United States, and Turkey. He did not provide more details about the plots.
The Telegraph reports that Manbij has earned the name “Little London” because of the many Britons who have made it their homes after joining ISIS.
US-backed Kurdish fighters were getting close to the city, which is located near the Turkish border. Military analysts say that Kurdish victory in the area – called the Manbij pocket — would choke off one of ISIS’s most important supply routes, and would place the anti-ISIS forces in a better position for a final assault on ISIS unofficial capital of Raqqa.
“This is capable force. They are doing all the things we can always do with able and motivated local forces to fight Isil,” said Carter. The victory of the Kurdish forces in Manbij will allow the Kurds to control a strategic section of the Turkish-Syrian border, may not be viewed favorably by Turkey, which views Syria’s Kurdish fighters as terrorists.
