US-led offensive in Syria seeks to cut off IS supply route

[bemildred]

DAMASCUS - The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria is trying to strangle it by cutting off a key supply route from Turkey.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led alliance, has just launched an offensive to capture the strategic northern town of Manbij with the help of coalition air strikes, 18 of them in the past 24 hours.

Manbij is on the north-south axis between Jarablus, a town on the border with Turkey and controlled by IS fighters, and Raqa, the Islamic State group's self proclaimed capital in Syria.

That axis is the main supply route to Raqa, said Jennifer Cafarella, Syria analyst for the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=77140

[bemildred]

1. Ignoring Turkey, U.S. backs Kurds in drive against ISIS in Syria

BEIRUT — A U.S.-backed force of Kurds and Arabs advanced toward an important Islamic State transit town in Syria on Wednesday, brushing aside Turkish opposition to the involvement of Kurds in operations to recapture the strategically vital area.

U.S. commandos are accompanying the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they push north toward Manbij, backed by intense U.S. airstrikes, as part of an offensive aimed at recapturing the town in Aleppo province, said Col. Chris Garver, a U.S. military spokesman.

Manbij lies on the main route used by foreign fighters traveling across the Turkish border to join the Islamic State in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group’s self-proclaimed caliphate. Capturing Manbij would sever the vital supply route, cut off militant fighters and further squeeze the Islamic State in Raqqa, Garver said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-backs-kurds-in-drive-against-isis-in-syria-despite-turkish-objections/2016/06/01/7bacf6fa-2808-11e6-8329-6104954928d2_story.html