Manbij District

The Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) will withdraw from northern Syrian town of Manbij towards the east of the Euphrates River, as Turkey has long demanded, the United States and the YPG both vowed on Nov. 16. 

U.S.-backed forces pressed offensives Nov. 9 on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) strongholds in Syria and Iraq, as an air strike by the American-led coalition reportedly killed 20 civilians near the Syrian city of Raqqa.

A U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance pushed closer to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria on Nov. 8, a spokesperson said. 

U.S.-backed rebels said on Nov. 6 they were launching an operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian Kurds and Arab rebel groups, supported by U.S. coalition planes, captured a dam on Dec. 26 from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), cutting one of its main supply routes across the Euphrates, an alliance spokesman said.

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab rebels advanced Dec. 24 against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria's north in a new offensive backed by U.S.-led air strikes, its spokesman said.

Talal Sello, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, told AFP the SDF offensive was launched late Dec. 23 in the Aleppo province.  

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters seized a Syrian town back from Kurdish-led forces near Raqqa city on July 6, a group monitoring the war reported, recovering ground near its de facto capital two days after it was pummelled in heavy U.S.-led air strikes.