The US-led coalition forces to fight Islamic State have announced their withdrawal from the city of Manbij, saying they are carrying out a thoughtful withdrawal from northeastern Syria.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Syrian regime forces seized a thousand square kilometers around the city.
Local sources told Al-Jazeera that Russian military police vehicles entered the city in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, which was controlled by the so-called Kurdish Democratic Forces of Syria.
The same sources added that about eight US military vehicles were stationed on both sides of the bridge "Qara Cossack" in the eastern countryside of Manbij, to prevent regime forces from moving to the city of Ain al-Arab (Kobani) east of the Euphrates River.
It also said that the American position on the bridge came after the Syrian regime had positioned points in the eastern countryside of Manbij on the opposite side of the US forces on the Euphrates River. The regime also deployed troops in the northern countryside of Manbij.
It is noteworthy that the bridge "Qara Cossack" away from the city of Ain al-Arab (the most important strongholds of the "Syrian Democratic Forces" east of the Euphrates) about 25 kilometers.
show of strength
Meanwhile, a US official said military aircraft of his country flew in a show of force in Syria to disperse Turkish-backed forces near US soldiers, he said.
For his part, a spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party, Ahmed Suleiman, said that the "Syrian Democratic Forces" will enter with the Syrian army in a joint security mechanism, as part of a deal with Damascus.
Suleiman said that the fighters of the "Democratic Syria" do not need to withdraw their elements from areas in the north of the country that are still under their control.
Earlier, the Syrian armed opposition forces claimed control of 11 villages in the vicinity of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain east of the Euphrates in the north of the country.