What is the importance of Manbij?

The city of Manbij is located in the northeast of the Syrian city of Aleppo, 80 km away, near the Euphrates River in the north and Abu Qalqal River in the south, which are tributaries of the Euphrates; Manbij was called in the past the Euphrates capital of Syria.

Administratively, it belonged to the province of Aleppo, with a population of 408,143 people, according to the 2004 census. It is a local economic center, on the M4 highway, a main commercial road linking the western coastal city of Latakia with Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and the regions of Al-Jazeera region.

The city of Manbij has turned into a target for most of the players in the Syrian conflict, due to the supply routes that pass through it, and its location in the middle of the northern belt of Syria; It was controlled by so-called Free Army on July 19, 2012, and in 2014 ISIS mercenaries occupied it, turning it into a city covered in black, and it was the main center for foreign mercenaries and a route for logistical, material and human supplies for mercenaries coming from Turkey.

'Current importance of Manbij'

The city of Manbij is currently considered one of the geostrategic areas in Syria, as it occupies a sensitive position on the map of the Syrian conflict because it is located near the meeting point of three separate regions. Areas occupied by Turkey and others belonging to the Damascus government, and the third under the protection of the Manbij Military Council forces. It also links the city of Al-Bab with the city of Raqqa, and is 30 km from the border point linking Syria with Turkey.

Due to its strategic location, it has become a complex that embodies the contradiction and conflict of regional and international interests, on top of which is the Turkish occupation state, Russia and the Damascus government. After occupying the city of Al-Bab, the Turkish occupation state tried, through a farcical play on August 24, 2016, to head to the city of Manbij, but the Manbij Military Council responded to these attempts. which still continues today.

'The importance of Manbij for the conflicting forces'

The Damascus government is seeking to control the city of Manbij, in order to expand its control area on the one hand, and control the highway that could help it rebuild Syria's deteriorating and torn economy as a result of the worsening crisis for more than ten years on the other hand. The Damascus government has recently sought to sow discord among the people of the city of Manbij, which is a tribal area in Syria, so it began supporting some clans, to stir up chaos in the city through them and through its sleeper cells.

As for Turkey, it is trying to expand its occupation of the Syrian regions on the one hand, to strike the Democratic Civil Administration on the other, and to focus on the side of Aleppo from the northeastern side. It considers the city of Manbij Turkish territory under the Melli Charter, not to mention its attempt to gain a foothold in the region, and isolate the regions of al-Jazeera region from the regions of al-Shahba, the city of Aleppo and Latakia.

The Turkish occupation state uses the mercenaries of the Syrian Coalition to implement its plans within the region, and the statements of the head of the mercenary coalition, Nasr Hariri, who called on the Turkish occupation state to occupy the city of Manbij and al-Shahba areas, are irrefutable proof of that.

As for Russia, it is trying to distance Turkey from NATO, so most of its policies in the northern regions are in harmony with Turkey, in addition to expanding the control area of ​​the Damascus government forces to maintain the strategic Russian investment in gas fields in Syrian waters, which became under Russia's control for half of the time. A century after the signing of an agreement between the Russians and the Damascus government to extract gas from Syrian lands and waters, and to establish military bases on warm waters as Hmeimim.

'distribution of forces'

The forces of the Manbij Military Council are currently stationed in the contact lines extending from the north of Manbij to the city of al-Bab to the west, and there is a Russian military base south of the city of Manbij, specifically in the town of Arima, which is the dividing line between the forces of the Manbij Military Council and the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation state. The Russian stationing south of Manbij came after the Turkish attacks on the regions of North and East Syria on October 9, 2019. Russia organizes from time to time joint patrols with the Damascus government forces on the front lines, between it and the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation state.

J.O

ANHA