Syrians in Manbij Celebrate Defeat of Islamic State

Celebrations broke out in the Syrian city of Manbij over the weekend after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters, said they were in control of the entire city, which had been held by Islamic State since 2014. Civilians poured into the streets and celebrated not being under strict Islamic control by men cutting their beards, women taking off their veils and members of both sexes smoking in public. Manbij is on a supply route between the Turkish capital and the de facto Islamic State capital of Raqqa and had been the scene of heavy fighting for the past two months. US military officials said that during the fighting, the coalition launched 680 airstrikes destroying more than 680 Islamic State fighting positions. The US-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting in Manbij claimed more than 1700 lives including more than 400 civilians. On Saturday, Islamic State released hundreds of about 2000 civilians they reportedly took as human shields. Meanwhile in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, airstrikes by the Russian and Syrian air force killed at least 51 people on Saturday. The fighting continued despite a pledge by Russia to observe a three-hour daily ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid deliveries. The battle for Aleppo, the second-largest city in Syria, has dragged on since 2012, and is among the fiercest of the Syrian civil war that has killed nearly 400,000 people according to UN estimates.