Syria Kurdish-Arab forces close in on Daesh-held Manbij
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Syrian families, who fled the assault lon Manbij, arrive at an encampment on the outskirts of the town, June 4, 2016.
Thousands of Syrian civilians have fled the key town of Manbij held by Daesh, as forces closes in on the Takfiri terrorist group's northern stronghold, a London-based monitor says.
A coalition of mainly Kurdish and Arab forces are advancing on Manbij from three directions after crossing the Euphrates River in a major offensive against Daesh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“We have surrounded Manbij from three sides and operations are progressing well,” said Sherfan Darwish, who is leading the offensive.
“Every day, we are liberating villages and the only route open to ISIL (Daesh) now is towards Aleppo City” to the west, he added.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is now within five km of Manbij from the north, two kilometers from the south and about seven kilometers from the east, the monitoring group said.
The observatory’s head Rami Abdel Rahman said Daesh has begun allowing civilians to flee towards the west, some in cars but many carrying their belongings on foot.
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