Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped inside the northern Syrian city of Manbij after U.S.-backed fighters surrounded the ISIS group stronghold, an activist said Saturday.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) encircled Manbij Friday, severing ISIS’ principal supply route between Turkey and its de facto Syrian capital, Raqqa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based activist group, said warplanes from a U.S.-led coalition were conducting heavy bombing raids on Manbij.
“Tens of thousands of civilians who are still there can’t leave as all the routes out of the city are cut,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.