On July 21, a source in the Manbij Millitary Council (MMC) told the Russian RT TV that the council and the Democratic Civil Administration in the city want to reconcile with the Damascus government.
According to the source, both the MMC and the local administration reject the Turkish-U.S. roadmap, which was agreed upon on May 25. As a part of the roadmap, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) was forced out of Manbij and a new Turkish-backed local committee will rule the city within the upcoming six months.
The source added that the majority of locals in Manbij “consider Turkey a state of occupation that wants to displace the Syrian Kurds from their land as it did in Afrin. Therefore, they want the Syrian authorities to return to it in order to governor it and to protect all of its ethnicities.”
Furthermore, the source expected that Russia will soon negotiate with Turkey in order to restore the role of the Damascus government in Manbij. The sources added that the fall of Afrin city was a lesson to Syrian Kurds.
“They learned a great lesson in Afrin when they did not hand it over to the Syrian state and chose to resist the Turkish occupiers,” RT quoted the source as saying.
Recently, several delegations of the US-led coalition visited Manbij and promised the MMC and the local administration there the coalition will continue to support and protect them. However, it may appear that these authorities don’t trust the U.S. anymore.