10 civilians, 2 SDF killed in latest Manbij fighting

[Anthea]

Fighting continued in the northern Syrian city of Manbij as ten civilians and two members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.

According to the Observatory, five members of one family, including three children, were killed in an airstrike carried out by warplanes of the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State.

Another three civilians, a man and his two children, were killed by a landmine as they tried to flee the city. A third child was injured in the explosion.

Shelling in the area of al-Bira killed another two children. The Observatory said that local activists blamed the shelling on SDF forces.

The number of civilians killed in the conflict in Manbij now stands at 182, according to the Observatory who report that the majority of the civilians were killed by Islamic State militants.

Two SDF fighters were also killed, bringing the total deaths within their ranks to 116 since the offensive was launched on May 31, according to the Observatory.

The SDF reported on Sunday that they downed a small drone, a “reconnaissance aircraft,” of the militants and seized a cache of grenades.

Shervan Derwish, spokesperson for the SDF, announced yesterday that Islamic State militants are disguising themselves as civilians in order to flee the city as his forces continue to gain ground.

“They know that there is no hope and we are taking over,” he said. “They are leaving.”

Syrian Democratic Forces launched an operation to liberate Manbij from Islamic State under the umbrella of the locally formed Manbij Military Council in early June. The SDF are a multi-ethnic force dominated by the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG).

Routing the Islamic State from Manbij will cut the extremist group off from the border with Turkey, thereby limiting its ability to bring in supplies and fighters. It will also bring the Kurds closer to connecting their cantons of Kobane and Efrin.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/100720161