More than 130 terrorists from the Islamic State (ISIS) have been killed in a US-backed offensive on the key jihadist-held city of Manbij in northern Syria, a monitoring group said Thursday.
US-led coalition air strikes supporting the assault by Kurdish and Arab fighters, launched on May 31, have also left 30 civilians dead, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Syrian Democratic Forces have been pushing west from the Euphrates River and have nearly encircled Manbij, a key point along ISIS's main supply line from the Turkish border to its eastern Syrian stronghold of Raqa.
The SDF alliance has surrounded the city from the north, east and south. Early on Thursday its fighters were advancing towards the main road leading west out of Manbij, according to Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. READ MORE
