Turkish warplanes and artillery struck targets held by the Kurdish YPG militia in north Syria on Sunday, security sources said, as Turkey pressed on with a cross-border campaign launched last week with its Syrian rebel allies.
The United States has made it clear to Syrian Kurdish forces that they must return to east of the Euphrates river after seizing control of the Syrian town of Manbij to retain US support, Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.
When Fatima and Mohammad pushed open their front door -- elated to return to Syria's Manbij after it was retaken from jihadists -- their weeks-long dream of coming home turned into a nightmare.
Islamic State group jihadists have released hundreds of civilians they used as human shields while fleeing a crumbling stronghold in northern Syria, but the fate of others remained unknown Saturday.
Islamic State group fighters seized around 2,000 civilians to use as "human shields" Friday as they fled their stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, US-backed forces and a monitor said.
US-backed forces trying to oust Islamic State militants from the Syrian city of Manbij took "almost complete control" of the city on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A US-backed force fighting to drive Islamic State out of Manbij said on Thursday it was giving the jihadist group 48 hours to pull out of the surrounded northern Syrian city.
The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition called for a suspension of the US-led air campaign against Islamic State in Syria while reports of dozens of civilian deaths from air strikes around the northern city of Manbij are investigated.
The Islamic State group lost 12 percent of the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria in the first half of 2016, according to an analysis by British think-tank IHS.
US-backed Syrian fighters pushed further into the Islamic State group stronghold of Manbij on Saturday, seizing a key road junction and grain silos overlooking the city, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian government said on Wednesday that German Special Forces were present, alongside French and American military personnel, in northern Syria, an accusation denied by Germany.
Arab-Kurdish fighters backed by the United States on Friday cut the Islamic State group's main supply route between Syria and Turkey, a monitor said, in a major setback for the jihadists.
