Syria’s state agencies reported that its army entered the Kurdish-held city of Manbij, on the invitation of the Kurdish YPG to protect it from a threatened Turkish offensive.
However US military officials and some locals have refuted the claim.
The New York Times said the move came as Kurds felt “betrayed” by the United States’ decision to withdraw from Syria and that the “request amounted to a United States ally [Kurds] calling on an enemy of the United States [Syrian government] to protect it from another American ally, Turkey.”
US commanders planning for the withdrawal of troops from Syria recommended that Kurdish fighters be permitted to keep US-supplied weapons.
Kurdish officials confirmed that the YPG (People’s Protection Unit) requested Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government to prevent a Turkish ‘invasion’ in the border city.
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