DAMASCUS: A car bomb killed at least 20 people in the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, the Syrian presidency said, marking the second attack there in three days and the country’s deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December.

The second such attack within days in Manbij comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities, which are close to Ankara, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over the group’s future.

The presidency’s statement said it will hold the perpetrators of what it described as a “terror attack” accountable. “This crime will not pass without the most severe punishment against its perpetrators to serve as an example against those who will try to tamper with the security of Syria or harm its people,” the presidency said.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack in Manbij, located some 30 km (19 miles) from the Turkish border. At least 14 of the dead were women, according to a preliminary toll issued earlier by the civil defence rescue service and another 15 women were wounded.

The victims were agricultural workers and the death toll was likely to increase, a civil defence official said. Manbij has changed hands numerous times during Syria’s 13-year civil war, most recently in December when Turkish-backed groups captured it from the US-backed SDF, which is led by the Kurdish YPG militia.

Authorities vow ‘punishment’ for the attack

The SDF had taken Manbij from the militant Islamic State group fighters in 2016. On Saturday, a car bomb in Manbij killed four civilians and wounded nine others, including children, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Assad was ousted from power on Dec 8 after a lightning offensive by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, whose leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was declared Syria’s transitional president last week.

The fighting in the Manbij area has raged despite efforts from SDF backer the United States to broker a ceasefire. Turkiye, which opposes the SDF, is due to host Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Tuesday for his second international visit since Bashar al-Assad’s toppling on Dec 8.

Turkish-backed factions launched attacks on Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, seizing the strategic Tal Rifaat and Manbij pockets at around the same time as the religiously-led offensive that overthrew Assad.

SDF leader Mazloum Abdi condemned the attack in a post on X, saying that “those responsible must be held accountable”. The rescuers published footage from the area online, showing first responders carrying people on stretchers as well as the wreckage of a vehicle by the side of the road.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2025