The Stars and Stripes fluttered above four US armoured vehicles driving through drizzle in the Syrian city of Manbij Sunday, each visibly carrying an armed soldier on lookout duty. The US patrol inside the strategic city near the Turkish border comes despite President Donald Trump’s shock announcement this month that he is pulling American troops out of the war-torn country. Almost eight years into Syria’s civil war, a Kurdish-led alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) controls a large swathe of territory in the country’s northeast, including Manbij.
