Photos of Strykers and up-armored Humvees flying U.S. flags were posted on social media over the weekend after the U.S. regional command confirmed that Special Forces troops in Syria had moved toward Manbij. (Qalaat Al Mudiq/Twitter)
On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that a US Special Operation Forces vehicle was attacked near Manbij city in the northeastern Aleppo countryside.
The fire did not enter the vehicle and did not hurt any US soldier, according to the official spokesman of the US-led coalition.
Army Col. Ryan Dillon added that the US-led coalition do not know who is behind the attack so far.
Manbij is one of the largest Arab cities controled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It is run by the Manbij Military Council – the largest Arab group in the SDF. The US Special Operations Forces were deployed in the city after the SDF captured it on August 27, 2016.
According to experts, ISIS was likely behind the attack against US troops.
ISIS had launched dozens of similar attacks against US forces in Iraq after 2008. It’s believed that US troops will face a number of similar attacks after defeating ISIS in Syria, as the Kurdish-Arab tension in the SDF-held areas and the large number of civilians killed by the US-led coalition may push many Arabs in the SDF-hed areas to support ISIS.
