US says Kurdish forces leaving Syrian town
A spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS says Syrian Kurdish forces are leaving the town of Manbij after training local fighters to defend it.
Air Force Col. John Dorrian said Wednesday that the trainers were in the process of leaving after assisting the Manbij Military Council. Kurdish-led forces drove IS from the town earlier this year.
Turkey, which sent troops into Syria this summer, had threatened to move into Manbij if the US-backed Kurdish forces didn't leave. Turkey views the Kurdish forces as an extension of the insurgency raging in its southeast. A local Manbij commander, Shervan Darwish, said the last 100 elite fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units left the town Tuesday.
