Beirut: US-backed Syrian fighters pushed further into the Daesh stronghold of Manbij on Saturday, seizing a key road junction and grain silos overlooking the city, a monitoring group said.
The city lies close to the border with Turkey and is a key staging post on the terrorists supply line to areas under its control in eastern Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
The US-backed Kurdish and Arab forces, which have thrust into Manbij after driving across the Euphrates River from the east, have encircled the city and are now closing in with the support of US-led coalition air strikes.
The Syrian Democratic Forces overran the Mills Roundabout in the south of the city on Saturday after capturing nearby grain silos overnight, taking them significantly closer to the city centre, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“The grain silos overlook more than half of Manbij. SDF fighters can climb to the top and monitor the city,” said Observatory chief Rami Abdul Rahman.
The Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigades - one of the Arab components of the Kurdish-dominated alliance - confirmed that SDF forces had seized the silos and pushed into the city.
Captured by Daesh in 2014, Manbij has served as a key transit point for foreign fighters and funds, as well as a trafficking hub for oil, antiquities and other plundered goods.
Its loss would deprive Daesh militants of vital revenues and mark the greatest victory so far for the Kurdish-led alliance which has already sealed most of the Turkish border.
Some 200 US and other coalition advisers are supporting the offensive launched at the end of last month.
Daesh has thrown large numbers of fighters into the battle, losing 463 since May 31, according to the Observatory. The SDF has lost at least 89.
Daesh militants have abducted about 900 Kurdish civilians in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo over the past three weeks, forcing the captives to build fortifications for the terrorists in retaliation for a Kurdish-led assault on a nearby Daesh stronghold.
Reports emerged Friday that at least 26 of those abducted have been killed for refusing to follow Daesh orders.
Some of the abducted Kurds have been pressganged into digging trenches and shelters for the Daesh ahead of the SDF offensive, according to Kurdish media activist Rezan Hiddo, while others have been forced to wear Daesh uniforms and ordered to fight at the fronts.
SDF spokesman Sherfan Darwish told The Associated Press that the Daesh militants began abducting Kurdish civilians in retaliation the offensive on Manbij.
“Whenever Daesh is defeated, they retaliate against civilians,” Darwish said, adding that there are whole families among those taken.
The abductions have been taking place mostly in areas under Daesh control, from the western Manbij countryside to the towns of Al Bab and Al Rai, according to Hiddo. He said the ongoing campaign has prompted families to flee the towns in fear.
The Observatory and Darwish said some of those taken captive have been forced to dig trenches in Daesh-held areas while others are imprisoned in Daesh-run detention centres. Darwish said all captured males above the age of 12 were sent against their will to the front lines to help fortify Daesh positions.
Many of the civilians are being held in an Daesh prison in Qabasin, Hiddo said. Those forced into labor are digging fortifications underneath homes in Al Bab.
“They (Daesh) are digging a city underneath the town to protect themselves from air strikes,” Hiddo added.
Daesh has not engaged in any negotiations for the release of the Kurdish civilians, nor asked for any ransom, Hiddo said, speaking from the nearby Kurdish stronghold of Afrin.
The terrorist group has a history of mass kidnappings in areas they control in Syria and Iraq and has mostly targeted Christians and Kurds in the past.
The Observatory also said that said Daesh fighters stormed homes in several villages they control near Al Bab, including Arab, Qabaseen and Nairabiyeh, and took with them mostly men.
In 2014, Daesh abducted nearly 200 Kurdish students near Manbij as they were en route from the Kurdish town of Kobani near the Syrian-Turkish border to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the provincial capital, to take their exams. Most were later released.
In February 2015, Daesh kidnapped more than 200 Christians from northeastern Syria. The Christians were released over a period of a year, after Daesh collected millions of dollars in ransom.