Russia on Tuesday said its troops were now patrolling an area separating the forces of the Syrian government and Turkey, a development that signals how Moscow is taking the role of key power-broker in the conflict there following the United States’ withdrawal.
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A U.S. official on Tuesday confirmed that all U.S. forces had left Manbij, The Associated Press reported. The Russian news agency, Ruptly, released video footage showing what it said was Syrian government forces driving into Manbij.
Two Russian journalists from an outlet with suspected ties to the Russian government posted videos on Tuesday showing themselves walking around a freshly abandoned American military outpost close to Manbij. One of the men, Oleg Blokhin, who has spent the last few years embedded with Russian and Syrian army units, filmed himself poking around the tents inside the base, noting that the air conditioning was still on in some and coming across American footballs left behind by the withdrawing American troops.
"Hello everyone from Manbij," Blokhin said, who has worked for the ANNA news agency, in the video posted on his Facebook page. "I am at the American military base, where until yesterday morning they were, and this morning already we are. Now we'll see how they lived and what they were doing."
The developments in Manbij appeared to underline how Russia is now moving swiftly to broker a new arrangement on the ground amid Turkey's offensive against the Kurdish militias that control northern Syria and which began after President Donald Trump said he would withdraw U.S. troops last week.
It comes a day after the Kurds said they had struck a deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to move into Kurdish-held territory in a bid to halt the Turkish advance. Manbij is an important town that Turkey has threatened to seize for days, but Russia's statements on Tuesday, however, seemed to signal that it would not allow a Turkish attack.