Russian military began patrolling around the Syrian Manbij
Russia conducts independent and joint patrols around the Syrian city of Manbij located in the north-east of the Aleppo Governorate. According to the local sources of the Turkish news agency Anadolu, Russian military patrol independently in some places and “together with the so-called el-Bab Military Council formed by YPG forces” in other places.
The footage of the Anatolian Agency captures the military in armored vehicles with the Russian flag patrolling around the town of Arima. In addition, the Russian military police are conducting joint patrols with YPG representatives around the above-mentioned settlement.
On January 10 and 13, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the military police of the Russian Federation were patrolling 48-km area and 30-km areas around Manbij.
The Russian military police began patrolling around the Syrian city of Manbij on January 8. “Our task is to ensure security in the area under our responsibility, and to control the position and movement of armed formations,” announced Yusup Mamatov, the Russian military police spokesman,
On December 25, the Syrian army command and the leadership of the Military Council of Manbij (the structure of the Syrian Democratic Forces, an Arab-Kurdish alliance, in which the Kurdish YPG plays a leading role) reached an agreement on transferring the entire area of Manbij under the control of the government forces. Fearing Turkish invasion, not only Kurdish but also many Arab leaders of the Military Council agreed with this decision. As a preliminary step, the Arima area near Manbij was transferred under the control of government forces. On December 24, a column of the Russian military police entered the town, which was followed by the arrival of various units of the Syrian army.