美国军方已经开始从叙利亚北部城市曼比吉仓促撤离，并准备帮助俄罗斯在那里站稳脚跟，与此同时，土耳其试图在战略要地击败库尔德人领导、五角大楼支持的战斗人员。新闻周刊已经学会了。
美国定于周一在24小时内正式从曼比伊撤军，留下大部分是库尔德人的叙利亚民主力量，因为两个对立的派别——由俄罗斯和伊朗支持的叙利亚政府和反对它的土耳其支持的叙利亚叛乱分子——试图夺取对战略要地的控制权。五角大楼一名高级官员告诉记者新闻周刊美国人员“已经在该地区呆了更长时间，一直在协助俄罗斯军队快速通过以前不安全的地区”
“这本质上是一次移交，”这位官员说。“然而，这是一个快速的过程，而不是一个包含演练等内容的过程。，一切都是为了尽可能多地利用我们的东西，同时摧毁任何无法移动的敏感设备。”
面对与土耳其军队及其叙利亚叛军盟友叙利亚民主力量的潜在迫在眉睫的冲突选择重新调整自己与中央政府及其俄罗斯支持者的合作将很快受到考验。
随着叙利亚军队和同盟民兵开始与库尔德人领导的军队在这座城市联合，反对派战士开始向曼比伊推进。此后，关于双方冲突的报道开始出现，这标志着该国多方面冲突的新战线。
1月17日，一辆俄罗斯军车在土耳其边境附近的北部城市曼比吉以西的阿里马地区巡逻，路过路边的行人。就在一天前，伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国声称发生了一起自杀式爆炸，造成曼比杰四名美国人员死亡。
曼比吉是多数阿拉伯人的家园，但也是包括库尔德人和其他少数民族在内的多元化社区，长期以来一直处于叙利亚多方面战争的前沿。2011年，一场全国性的起义演变成内战，大约一年后，它首次被叛军和圣战分子夺取。美国积极支持一些试图驱逐叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德的叛乱分子，但随着伊斯兰国激进组织(伊斯兰国)在全国蔓延，美国重新调整了政策重点，于2014年夺取了曼比伊。
五角大楼在2015年与叙利亚民主力量合作，突破了伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国控制的横跨叙利亚北部和东部的领土，并在2016年从激进分子手中夺取了对曼比伊的控制权。大多数库尔德民兵也由其他少数民族和阿拉伯人组成，他们立即发现自己处于一场新的生存斗争的中心。
同年晚些时候，土耳其发动了跨境进攻，动员了大部分逊尼派穆斯林阿拉伯反叛分子，试图夺取曼比伊，但美国表示支持由叙利亚民主力量建立的自治、多数库尔德人政府。安卡拉认为一些库尔德战士与国内长达数十年的叛乱有关联，并试图压制他们在土耳其边境附近的存在。
大约在同一时间，叙利亚军队在该市南郊对抗反对派部队取得了进展，将俄罗斯盟军人员安置在了他们的美国同行附近。随着在场的两个主要大国土耳其从未成功拿下曼比。
即使在去年早些时候土耳其扩大了对非洲西北部其他地方自治领土(主要是库尔德人控制的领土)的控制之后，曼比杰仍然是土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安的症结所在。他要求唐纳德·特朗普总统在两国就沿土耳其-叙利亚边境建立“安全区”进行会谈时撤出美国军队。
特朗普在去年12月与埃尔多安通了电话后，宣布了从叙利亚撤军的决定，但随着美国结束其反伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国(ISIS)运动并扩大其打击伊朗影响力的使命，该计划陷入停滞。几个月后，在埃尔多安和特朗普再次通话后，白宫上周宣布，美国将重新部署美国军队土耳其发起了另一项行动。
土耳其士兵和土耳其支持的叙利亚叛军聚集在叙利亚城市曼比吉的北郊。10月14日，土耳其及其盟友继续袭击叙利亚北部主要由库尔德人控制的边境城镇。土耳其希望沿其边境建立一个大约20英里的缓冲区，以遏制库尔德武装，并遣返其收容的360万叙利亚难民中的一些人。
五角大楼立即表示反对土耳其的攻击，呼吁埃尔多安停止推进。特朗普最初表示支持，威胁实施制裁，并呼吁美国在土耳其官员和库尔德团体之间进行斡旋，但最终在叙利亚军队和叛军逼近曼比杰时下令撤军。
国防部长马克·埃斯珀在周日接受哥伦比亚广播公司采访时说:“因此，我们发现我们自己的美军很可能被困在两支对立的推进军队之间，这是一个非常难以维持的局面。”。“因此，昨晚在与国家安全小组其他成员讨论后，我与总统进行了交谈，他指示我们开始从叙利亚北部有意识地撤军。”
“这将是一次有意的撤军，我们希望尽可能安全、快速地进行撤军，”他补充道。“因此，我们希望确保我们消除部队撤退的冲突。我们想确保不会留下设备。所以我不准备给它设定时间表，但这是我们的总体游戏计划。”
像特朗普一样，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京与埃尔多安有着直接的联系。作为旨在结束叙利亚战争的三边和平谈判的一部分，两位领导人与伊朗总统哈桑·鲁哈尼多次走到一起，但随着各自的盟友向曼比伊进军，他们之间可能会出现新的紧张局势。
据国营的俄罗斯塔斯社报道，在国营的阿拉伯叙利亚通讯社报道第一批叙利亚部队进入该市时，俄罗斯总统助理尤里乌沙科夫周一表示，“最重要的是土耳其人的行动要与局势保持一致，他们的行动不会给最重要的问题——叙利亚的政治解决带来任何问题”。“这对我们来说是最重要的。”
EXCLUSIVE: U.S. CEDES SYRIAN CITY TO RUSSIA IN BATTLEFIELD 'HANDOVER' AS TURKEY TRIES TO TAKE IT
The U.S. military has begun a hasty exit from Syria's northern city of Manbij, and is set to help Russia establish itself there amid a Turkish attempt to defeat Kurdish-led, Pentagon-backed fighters at the strategic location, Newsweek has learned.
The U.S. was scheduled as of Monday to officially withdraw from Manbij within 24-hours, leaving the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces behind as two rival factions—the Syrian government, backed by Russia and Iran, and the Turkey-backed Syrian insurgents opposed to it—sought to seize control of the strategic location. A senior Pentagon official told Newsweek that U.S. personnel, "having been in the area for longer, has been assisting the Russian forces to navigate through previously unsafe areas quickly."
"It is essentially a handover," the official said. "However, it's a quick out, not something that will include walk-throughs, etc., everything is about making out with as much as possible of our things while destroying any sensitive equipment that cannot be moved."
Contacted by Newsweek on Monday, no reply was returned from the Pentagon before publication.
Faced with a potentially imminent clash with Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces have chosen to realign themselves with the central government and its Russian backer, a partnership that would soon be put to the test.
As Syrian troops and allied militias moved to team up with Kurdish-led forces in the city, opposition fighters began their own advance toward Manbij. Reports have since begun to emerge of clashes between the two sides, signifying a new front in the country's multi-sided conflict.
A Russian army vehicle patrols past people walking on the side of the road in the area of Arimah, just west of Manbij, a northern city near the Turkish border, January 17. Just a day earlier a suicide bombing claimed by ISIS killed four U.S. personnel in Manbij.
Manbij, home to a majority-Arab, but diverse community that includes Kurds and other ethnic minorities, has long been on the frontier of Syria's multi-sided war. It was first seized by rebels and jihadis about a year after a nationwide uprising devolved into civil war in 2011. The United States had actively supported a number of the insurgents trying to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but refocused its policy as the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) spread across the country, taking Manbij in 2014.
The Pentagon partnered with the Syrian Democratic Forces in 2015, piercing through ISIS-held territory stretching across northern and eastern Syria and wrested control of Manbij from the militants in 2016. The mostly Kurdish militia also comprised of other ethnic minorities and Arabs immediately found itself at the heart of a new fight for survival.
Turkey launched a cross-border offensive later that year, mobilizing mostly Sunni Muslim Arab rebels in an attempt to take Manbij, but the United States offered its support for the self-ruling, majority-Kurd administration that was established by the Syrian Democratic Forces. Ankara considers some Kurdish fighters linked to a decades-long insurgency at home and has sought to neutralize their presence near the Turkish border.
Around the same time, the Syrian military made gains against opposition forces on the southern outskirts of the city, placing allied Russian personnel near their American counterparts. With the two major powers present, Turkey never managed to take Manbij.
Even after Turkey expanded its control over autonomous, mostly Kurdish-held territory elsewhere in far northwestern Afrin early last year, Manbij remained a sticking point for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. He demanded President Donald Trump pull U.S. troops as the two countries enter talks on establishing a "safe zone" along the Turkish-Syrian border.
Trump announced his decision to pull troops out of Syria in December of last year following a call with Erdogan, but plans stalled as the U.S. wrapped up its anti-ISIS campaign and expanded its mission to counter Iranian influence. Months later, following another call between Erdogan and Trump, the White House announced last week that the U.S. would relocate U.S. troops as Turkey launched another operation.
Turkish soldiers and Turkey-backed Syrian rebels gather on the northern outskirts of the Syrian city of Manbij. October 14, as Turkey and its allies continue their assault on the mostly Kurdish-held border towns in northern Syria. Turkey wants to create a roughly 20-mile buffer zone along its border to keep Kurdish forces at bay and also to send back some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts.
The Pentagon immediately expressed its opposition to the Turkish assault, calling on Erdogan to halt the advance. Trump, who initially signaled his support, threatened sanctions and called for a U.S. role in mediating between Turkish officials and Kurdish groups, but ultimately ordered a pullout as Syrian troops and rebels neared Manbij.
"And so we find ourselves as we have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies and it's a very untenable situation," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CBS News on Sunday. "So I spoke with the president last night after discussions with the rest of the national security team and he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria."
"It'll be a deliberate withdrawal and we want to conduct it as safely and quickly as possible," he added. "So we want to make sure we deconflict a pullback of forces. We want to make sure we don't leave equipment behind. So I'm not prepared to put a timeline on it, but that's our general game plan."
Like Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin has a direct line to Erdogan. The two leaders have repeatedly come together, along with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, as part of trilateral peace talks designed to end the war in Syria, but new tensions could emerge among them as their respective allies marched towards Manbij.
As the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported the first Syrian units entering the city, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Monday that "what matters most of all is that the Turks act in keeping with the situation and that their actions pose no problems for what is most important—political settlement in Syria," according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency. "This is what is most important for us."
