Coalition Isolates Manbij on Turkish Border

A group of U.S.-backed rebels completed the first part of their operation to push so-called Islamic State militants out of one of their hubs in northern Syria, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Wednesday.

“After clearing Daesh [ISIS] from this area they are now ready for the second phase to liberate the city itself,” Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported on a statement by CENTCOM.

CENTCOM confirmed that fighters from the Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC), an opposition faction under the umbrella of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led the operation and were backed by the U.S. military, according to Anadolu Agency.

The unit was able to secure routes to and from the Manbij pocket, an area of roughly 60mi (100km) in northern Syria along the Turkish border. Some 3,000 fighters participated in the first phase of the operation, the majority of whom are part of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

“For the SAC, civilian safety is a critical concern, and as a consequence people are returning to the already liberated inhabited villages,” the statement said.

Central Command said that since the operation began two weeks ago, the U.S.-led coalition has conducted more than 190 airstrikes against ISIS in the vicinity of Manbij.

“The Manbij city operation, coupled with the coalition-supported Syrian moderate opposition efforts to clear Daesh from the Turkish border and the Maraa line, continues to attrite Daesh forces and minimize the threat to Turkey, the rest of Europe and the United States,” the statement said.

Russia Announces Two-Day Cease-fire in Aleppo

Russia has agreed to a 48-hour “regime of calmness” in the northern city of Aleppo, set to begin on Thursday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“On Russia’s initiative, a ‘regime of silence’ has been introduced in Aleppo for 48 hours from 00:01 16 June (21:01 GMT Wednesday) with the goal of lowering the level of armed violence and stabilizing the situation,” according to a statement issued by the Defense Ministry on Thursday.

Russia’s announcement came a day after U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, said that Russia and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government were enforcing the nationwide cease-fire only in certain parts of the country. In other areas, Aleppo in particular, both nations were continuing their operation, Kerry said.

“Unless we get a better definition of how this cessation is going to work … we are not going to sit there while Assad continues to offensively assault Aleppo and while Russia continues to support in that effort,” Kerry told a news conference in Oslo.

Aleppo has been the site of intense fighting and heavy airstrikes for the past few weeks. Over the past 48 hours, heavy clashes between opposition factions, including al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, and government forces killed at least 70 fighters in Aleppo.

The city has also been under a near-constant barrage of aerial bombardments. Barrel bomb attacks in opposition-held neighborhoods of the province killed at least 34 civilians during that same period, the International Business Times reported.

Aleppo Cut Off From Aid Deliveries: Mercy Corps

A significant increase in Russian and Syrian government airstrikes has all but blocked off rebel-held parts of Aleppo city from humanitarian access, according to a statement from international relief agency Mercy Corps.

Mercy Corps urged the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) to work harder to enforce the cessation of hostilities to include Aleppo city, in order to let aid workers into the area and ensure their safety.

“What we’re seeing is not by definition a siege, but we’ve been unable to bring new supplies into Aleppo city since mid-May,” said Xavier Tissier, the organization’s Northern Syria director. “Over the past six weeks, Mercy Corps has seen life become even more dangerous for both aid workers and civilians. This is the worst we’ve seen so far in Aleppo.”

Mercy Corps provides essential relief to approximately 570,000 people across Syria each month, including more than 75,000 people in Aleppo City alone.

When fighting increased in Aleppo earlier this year, Mercy Corps began stockpiling humanitarian aid inside the city in the event that it would come under complete siege, Mercy Corps’ humanitarian director for Syria, Ashley Proud, told Syria Deeply.

“The roads are being hit on an hourly basis. To send our team members in trucks full of food and supplies would make them a target,” Tissier said. “We have pre-positioned stocks in Aleppo City, but they won’t last forever.”

Recommended Reads

• Al Jazeera: The Diaspora Groups Bringing Aid to Syria: ‘This Isn’t a Job, It’s Now Our Life’
• Al-Monitor: Why Iran Still Doesn’t Trust Russia on Syria
• International Institute for Counter-Terrorism: Jabhat al-Nusra at Crossroads
• Financial Times: The Deadly Draw of the ISIS Brand Without Borders
• The Syria Campaign: Taking Sides: The United Nations’ Loss of Impartiality, Independence and Neutrality in Syria