The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants clashed on
July 23 with U.S.-backed fighters in the Syrian town of Manbij, pursuing
their fierce defense of the jihadist stronghold and ignoring a deadline
to leave.
There are growing fears for the fate of civilians
trapped in Manbij, formerly a key stop along ISIL’s supply route from
neighboring Turkey into its self-styled Islamic “caliphate” in Syria.
The
U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) penetrated the town one
month ago but have since been hindered by a bloody ISIL
counter-offensive amid concerns about civilians.
On July 23, ISIL
jihadists appeared to ignore a 48-hour ultimatum to leave issued by the
Manbij Military Council, a key SDF member.
“The 48-hour period
is over, and there will be no more opportunities like this one for Daesh
[ISIL],” a commander from the council told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
ISIL has “not responded” to the SDF’s offer and instead “attacked our positions,” he said.
The
ultimatum came after at least 56 civilians, including children, were
reportedly killed July 19 in U.S.-led coalition air strikes near Manbij.
The commander pledged that his forces would “intensify our attacks on their remaining positions.”
The
council’s spokesman, Sherfan Darwish, stressed in an online statement
July 23 that SDF forces in Manbij “are committed to securing safe
passage to the best of their ability for any civilian able to flee
Daesh’s brutality.”
Meanwhile,
air raids have hit four makeshift hospitals in Syria’s battered Aleppo
city, doctors said July 24, jeopardizing medical care for more than
200,000 desperate civilians in rebel-held areas.
The bombardment
since July 23 has worsened the plight of residents of besieged eastern
neighborhoods of Syria’s second city, where food and medical supplies
are becoming increasingly scarce.
The hospitals, as well as a
blood bank that was hit, were located in the Al-Shaar neighborhood, said
the Independent Doctor’s Association, a group of Syrian doctors that
supports clinics in Aleppo.
It said a two-day-old baby was killed
in the children’s hospital when his oxygen supply was cut after a raid
during the early hours of July 24.
It was the second strike on the same hospital in about nine hours, according to the IDA.
“After
the second strike, we had to move him [the baby] downstairs to the bomb
shelter, and that’s why he died,” said Malika, the head nurse at the
children’s hospital.
“The hospital is severely damaged and it’s
not the first time,” she said, in online conversations with IDA
representatives seen by AFP.