US-backed forces advance in IS Syria stronghold: monitor

US-backed forces advance in IS Syria stronghold: monitor Beirut (AFP) July 31, 2016 - Advancing Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by US-led air strikes now control 40 percent of the Islamic State stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, a monitor said Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had pushed deeper into the town near the border with Turkey, with air cover from the US-led coalition against the jihadists. Around 2,300 ... more

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