According to the local military council, four members of the Turkish-linked mercenaries' occupation troops were killed and three others were injured in a “precise defensive attack” in Manbij, northern Syria. The Manbij Military Council said on Thursday that the attack took place on Monday evening in response to attempted attacks by mercenaries under Turkish command.

The military council said the attackers had positioned themselves in the area of the village of Saydiyah in the northwest of Manbij. After long-term observation of activities there and in the surrounding areas of other villages along the contact line between the Turkish occupation zone and the northeast Syrian autonomous region, the planned wave of attacks was responded to “on the basis of legitimate self-defense”. The “tactical strike” successfully prevented both attacks against their own posts and civilian settlement areas, it said.

Manbij is located 30 kilometers south of the Turkish border and occupies a key strategic position in Turkey's plans to expand its illegal occupation zone in northern Syria. The city, administered by the Autonomous Administration, is located on the important M4 motorway, which runs through northern Syria as a lifeline and has already represented a strategic supply route for ISIS.

In 2022, Manbij was named by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with Tel Rifat, as the first target for a renewed Turkish invasion of Northern and Eastern Syria. There are repeated attacks by the Turkish army and allied mercenaries, which are mainly aimed at civilian settlement areas in an attempt to drive the population out of the area.

A week ago, the Manbij military council carried out a reprisal attack against the jihadist militia “Sultan Murat Brigade”. According to the military council, five mercenaries were killed and seven others injured in the revenge operation carried out for the deaths of three YPJ fighters.