The residents of Manbij, located near the Turkish border with Syria were jubilant over on Saturday, a day after Western-backed Syria’s Democratic Forces, SDF, ousted the Islamic State from the city. According to SDF sources, some 2,000 civilian hostages were freed from Islamic State custody. Some locals recounted the horrors of Islamic State rule, showing areas dedicated to corporal punishment. One unidentified man can be seen pointing to an area referred to as the ‘Ship Circle’ that was reserved for executions. “Here, they used to execute people and hung their heads here and leave it for three days. (UNIDENTIFIED MAN: What is the name of the area?) It is called the ‘Ship Circle’. This is the Ship Circle and at each circle they put a cross. For anything or using the excuse he did not believe, they put him and cut his head. They execute people here and kill them and it is all execution. It is all injustice, injustice, injustice until the day of injustice. They are not related to religion and we all lived with Islam and they came to teach US Islam! May God help, make you stronger and protect you,” said an Unidentified Resident of Manbij.
The SDF, with heavy air support from a U.S.-led coalition, said last week they had taken almost complete control of Manbij, where a small number of Islamic State fighters had been holed up. U.S. officials who backed the initiative have said once the Manbij operation is completed, it would create the conditions to move on the extreme Muslim group’s de-facto capital of Raqqa. US officials said they anticipate a tough battle.