The Turkish military has completed the sixth round of patrols in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, Anadolu Agency reported on Thursday.
According to the Turkish state-run media, armored vehicles belonging to the country’s military conducted patrols in the vicinity of the Sacu river, a body of water which separates the Jarabulus region from Manbij.
On June 18, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said their forces had begun military patrols and would enter the town “step by step.”
The patrols are carried out in the line between the Euphrates Shield zone and Manbij according to a roadmap agreed on by Ankara and Washington.
Earlier this month, Cavusoglu met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo where the two endorsed a “general roadmap” for Manbij that was “conditions-based.”
Washington and Ankara have been locked in a dispute over the former’s support of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey claims the Kurdish forces have ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and thus considers the group “terrorists.”
The United States rejects that characterization and backs the YPG—who make a majority of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—in the ongoing fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS).
The YPG has since announced its withdrawal from the region.
Despite the start of the implementation of the “roadmap” for Manbij, Turkish forces will not enter the town itself, a spokesperson for the US-led coalition against IS told Pentagon reporters on June 19.