DEBKAfile questions Ankara’s claim that Kurdish fighters left Manib

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus Monday welcomed the withdrawal of Kurdish YPG militia fighters from the northern Syrian town of Manbij and their relocation east of the Euphrates River. DEBKAfile’s sources, questioning this statement, reports that while a group of YPG militiamen may have withdrawn from Manbix, the town they captured from ISIS last month, a large number has regrouped in the strategic town on new defense lines in defiance of Ankara.