The coalition fighting the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) in Syria is trying to strangle it by cutting off a key supply route, AFP reported Thursday (June 2nd).
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurd alliance, continues to press an offensive to capture the strategic city of Manbij with the help of coalition airstrikes.
SDF fighters were 10 kilometres outside Manbij on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, and had seized 20 villages outside the city.
"The clashes are very violent and ISIL is putting up fierce resistance," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Manbij is on the north-south axis between Jarablus, a town on the border with Turkey controlled by ISIL, and al-Raqa, the group's stronghold in Syria.
That axis is the main supply route to al-Raqa, an analyst told AFP, noting that if anti-ISIL fighters take Manbij and then Jarablus, that would disrupt ISIL's ability to resupply.
