Reports of YPG fully withdrawing from Syria's Manbij exaggerated, foreign ministry says

The Turkish foreign ministry said Monday that media reports of YPG terrorists fully withdrawing from Syria's Manbij "are exaggerated," adding that the process is still ongoing.

"YPG terrorists continue to withdraw from Turkey's patrol routes. Therefore news stating that they fully pulled out of Manbij do not represent the truth," the ministry said.

Previously on Sunday allied forces controlling the town said that the last People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorists had left Manbij, fulfilling a longstanding Turkish demand that the YPG withdraw.

Turkey objects to the presence of the YPG terrorists in Syria near its border. The YPG is an extension of the PKK terrorist group, which has waged a three-decade bloody campaign on Turkish soil.

"The Manbij Military Council announces that the last batch of (YPG) military advisers completed its withdrawal on July 15, 2018, after completing their mission of military training and preparation of our forces...," a statement said.

The Manbij Military Council is allied with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by the YPG.

The announcement came after a Manbij road map was announced by Turkey and the United States in early June. The reached deal focuses on the withdrawal of the PKK-affiliated YPG from the northern Syrian city and stability in the region. It envisages deployment of Turkish forces to assure peace in the region and to train local forces to establish and maintain security.

Manbij has been controlled by the YPG terrorist group, the U.S.' main ally against Daesh, since 2016. Turkey has long demanded that the U.S. avoid cooperation with the YPG, objecting to YPG presence west of the Euphrates River, including the predominantly Arab town of Manbij.

The YPG previously announced in June it would pull out from the area, but did not specify how many were still left in the town.

U.S. support for the SDF has long been a cause of tension between Ankara and Washington, sparking fears of a direct confrontation between the two NATO allies. Turkey previously launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to eliminate the YPG from Afrin province in northwestern Syria.

The YPG's ultimate aim is to establish an autonomous region in northern Syria -- termed a "terror corridor" by Ankara -- by connecting the northwestern Afrin canton to the Kobani and Jazeera cantons in the northeast.

Since conflict broke out there in 2011, Syria has been sliced up into various zones of control, with the Assad regime making a comeback to hold more than 60 percent of the country.

But much of its north is controlled by the YPG or its allies, and the U.S.-led coalition fighting Daesh operates several bases there.