Baladi News – Manbij (Nizar Hamidi)
The land battles of the besieged city of Manbij between Syria’s Democratic Forces (SDF) trying to storm the city more than a month ago on the one hand, and ISIS, the organization taking fortified positions inside the city, on the other hand, are exclusively covered by local and Arabic media. Activists accuse global media of deliberately ignoring the sufferings of civilians inside the surrounded city from all sides. Those civilians became placed between the hammer of ISIS and the anvil of SDF; if someone could escape the minefields made by ISIS around the city, they would not survive SDF snipers deployed in the outskirts.
Amid this media blackout of the battles of Manbij, more than 50 civilians have been reported dead by activists during the current month of July out of 192 documented since the beginning of the military campaign, including 56 children and 34 women, who died in the international coalition airstrikes, were shot dead by snipers, or were killed as a result of the explosion of mines laid by ISIS around the city while trying to escape the shelling and blockade.
Genocide against Civilians
Abu Abdallah, a lucky civilian who escaped from the city of Manbij, said to Baladi News, “What is happening in the city is a genocide against civilians. The streets are full of many corpses of civilians killed by snipers, which could not have been picked-up because of snipers lurking to kill anyone who could approach.”
The speaker added that “the clashes in the outskirts of Manbij forced the civilians to flee to the heart of the city. Each house in the center includes more than a family living in very difficult circumstances and disastrous humanitarian situations. They are locked inside the houses, and some of them cannot find anything to eat.
The speaker indicated that the civilians are caught between the jaws of pliers. ISIS prevents them from exiting the city, and anyone who could escape would be killed by snipers of both parties as well as the mines laid by ISIS.
He also pointed out that SDF shuts down all the paths to the city and denies the entry of any medicines or foodstuffs, calling both sides to stop the fighting in order for the civilians to bury their victims who were killed by those demanding democracy and those demanding the Islamic caliphate.
Nearly 200,000 civilians live in Manbij city, half of whom are women and children, who were denied from leaving the city by ISIS since the beginning of a military campaign by SDF after rapid advance in the fourth axis of the city more than a month ago.
What would “Liberation” be worth?
Ahmad al-Thalji, member of the Political Committee of Manbij city and countryside, said, “Both opponents are committing crimes against civilians; ISIS is using them as human shields and preventing them from leaving the city, meanwhile SDF and the international coalition are surrounding and pursuing starvation policy against them. Now, the civilians are targets of the international coalition airstrikes and SDF haphazard mortar bombardments, which aim at causing chaos in order to confuse ISIS, which would facilitate the storming of the city by the attacking forces.
Al-Thalji wondered, “What could the proclaimed liberation be worth if it would destroy the city and kill its residents? Deliberate airstrikes by the international coalition forces have killed a lot of civilians and ruined their houses as well as facilities, bridges, governmental buildings, and schools.”
The speaker held the international community in general, and the international coalition, the main supporter of the campaign, in particular, responsible for the lives and safety of the besieged civilians.