A convoy of US armoured vehicles near Yalanli, near the northern Syrian city of Manbij Getty ImagesAmerican and Russian troops were patrolling villages on the outskirts of the same Syrian town at the weekend in the first, possibly accidental, fruits of President Trump’s new world order. The otherwise unremarkable town of Manbij, 15 miles south of the Turkish border, has become a focal point since being freed from Islamic State, of the competing ambitions of the Syrian regime, Turkey, Arab rebels, and Kurds. Russia backs the regime while America, though a Nato ally of Turkey, has supported an alliance of local groups led by the Kurdish militia, the YPG, whose Turkish arm the PKK is fighting a guerrilla war with Ankara. On Saturday, pictures taken by local journalists showed armoured vehicles patrolling the western outskirts of the town, currently held by…

Source: The Times March 06, 2017 12:00 UTC