US, Turkey to begin joint patrols in north Syria ‘within coming days’ – military

Turkish and American troops could begin conducting joint patrols around the northern Syrian city of Manbij within the coming days, the top US commander for the Middle East has said. Army General Joseph Votel, the head of US Central Command, said on Sunday that the soldiers’ training is expected to last “several more days,” and then will transition to combined patrols. The Manbij patrols are part of a road map that Ankara and Washington agreed on in June to defuse tensions amid Turkish demands for the withdrawal of a US-backed Kurdish militia that freed the town of Manbij from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in 2016.