In the evening hours of Friday, the Turkish army began shelling the villages of Awn Dadat and al-Masi in the self-governing region around Manbij with artillery fire. At least ten artillery shells are reported to have hit the villages. No information is yet available on possible damage and casualties.

Manbij in the focus of Turkish fascism

The Manbij region has been the focus of Turkish aggression since the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated the city on August 15, 2016. At that time, the city had been liberated from more than two and a half years of rule by the ISIS. For ISIS, the loss meant a severe defeat, as Manbij was considered the "secret capital" that lay on the strategically important supply route from the Turkish border to Raqqa, and where suicide bombers were trained and sent to Europe, among other places. Manbij was thus one of the key positions for the alliance between ISIS and Turkey, the liberation of which particularly pained the regime in Ankara. Since then, the AKP/MHP regime and its allies have tried to destabilize Manbij with attacks, assaults, and hate propaganda.