The People’s Protection Units (YPG) have declared that they have pulled back from the key town of Manbij to prepare for another move on the jihadists, after Turkey and the U.S. warned the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to return to the east of the Euphrates river.

The YPG, considered by Ankara to be the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said its forces had returned to their bases after “successfully completing” the mission to capture Manbij.