PYD will advance on Daesh-held Manbij: sources

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) affiliate in Syria, Democratic Kurdish Party (PYD) is planning a major offensive to take the stretch from Azaz town to Jarablus north of Aleppo.

Reports quoting local sources said PYD-linked armed groups will advance through the land gap between the two Kurdish enclaves to capture Manbij town, nearly 40 kilometers from Daesh-held Jarablus, bordering Turkey.

Manbij is currently controlled by Daesh terrorist network.

Local sources said the operation is imminent because PYD is eager to complete its next project to connect Kobani and Afrin cantons.

PYD succeeded in connecting Haseke and Kobani cantons, the two non-contiguous zones of territory it holds in northern Syria. If it is able to reorganize the remaining two non-contiguous zones -- Kobani and Afrin-- in the territory it controls, its chief, Saleh Muslim, will be able to exercise his power along more than 500 kilometers of Syria's border with Turkey.

PYD has contacted the Arabic and Turkmen tribal leaders in Manbij to request support for an offensive to push Daesh out of the town. The tribes did not offer their support to him, as they do not trust him, local sources were quoted as saying. Muslim then asked for air support from Washington because his armed groups failed to stop Daesh's advance in the region.

There have been reports of heavy US bombing while PYD-linked armed groups have massed in the region to take Manbij, in west of the Euphrates River. Reports, quoting local sources, said that US-led coalition planes struck Tishrin Dam and its surrounding area as well as Daesh's front lines in south of Jarablus.

Sources also said that PYD's armed groups have seized five depots, including ammunitions and weapons in Sırrin town, which is held by Daesh.

Turkey views the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as allied with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has carried out a nearly four-decade-long armed campaign in the southeast of Turkey.

PKK is seen a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and US. But there is rift between Ankara and Washington over PYD.

Turkey perceives it as a terrorist organization for its direct link with PKK, while US regards PYD as an effective partner against Daesh terrorist network on the ground in Syria.

Earlier in March, PYD declared a unilateral federal system in areas it controls in northern Syria, despite criticism from the Syrian opposition and Turkey.