Manbij becomes an election issue in Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called a surprise election for June 24, and the early days of the contest have made it clear that he will be campaigning on a promise of deeper involvement in the Syrian civil war. In one of his first election rallies, President Erdogan alluded to “new missions” for troops that had already cleared out terrorists along the country’s southern border and in Afrin. Such a mission could only refer to one thing: a new operation to dislodge the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces from Manbij.