US Limited to Advisory Role in Granting Daesh Safe Passage in Syria

The US military lets the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) make decisions on issues like granting the Daesh safe passage unless American lives are at risk, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US-backed, Kurdish-led SDF agreed to let some 200 Daesh fighters escape from the town of Manbij in exchange for laying down their weapons, US media reported on Tuesday.

"We [the United States] are advising and assisting, but we are letting them make the decisions," Korb said on Wednesday. "This is their war."

The US military, Korb claimed, would overrule the SDF only when and if a particular decision might endanger Americans.

The SDF decision was the right thing to do, Korb suggested, because it prevented innocent civilians under Daesh control from getting killed.

The Daesh militants began leaving the city on Friday while being monitored by US drones, the same day the US Defense Department announced that the liberation of Manbij was in its final stages.

On May 21, the SDF, backed by the US-led coalition against the Daesh, began an offensive to retake the northern Syrian town from the terror group.

Manbij was considered a key hub for the militants to smuggle fighters and supplies across the Turkish border.

The Daesh has been outlawed in Russia and numerous other countries throughout the world.