Clutching a small radio transmitter, Abu Azzam shouted at the group gathered in front of the Al Agha restaurant. He urged them to disperse. "Get out of here, if there's another bomb, we'll all die!"
Just a few minutes ago, local forces had managed to extinguish the fire consuming the remains of the car bomb. The paramilitaries were nervously deployed around the twisted metal wreckage. The shared taxi was just a few meters away, bearing the brunt of the shrapnel. Stranded in the middle of the avenue, with its side caved in, its driver did not survive the injuries.
At that time, just before 8:00 p.m., Bashar Badro, one of the waiters at Agha, was trying to clean up the shards of glass from the business that were scattered on the sidewalk. "We saw a man get out and run, then jump into another vehicle. It all happened in seconds. Suddenly, there was a flash and a tremendous explosion. When I came out, I found an injured person with a head full of blood," he explained.
Local uniformed personnel continued to interrogate witnesses. Commander Abu Azzam recalled that the attacks are becoming commonplace. "Yesterday [on the 22nd], we dismantled another car loaded with 50 kilos of C-4 [explosive]. It's obvious that the PKK [the Kurdish party led by Abdullah Ocalan] wants to destabilize Manbij," he commented to those present.
Badro, the restaurant employee, nodded and recalled that the Kurdish forces lost control of the town due to a popular uprising. "They want to instill fear. It's revenge against the population," he opined.
The attack on January 23rd is the latest incident of this kind recorded in the Syrian town of Manbij, located 100 kilometers east of Aleppo and 30 kilometers from the Euphrates River. The river and the strategic Tishrin Dam -located in the same place- have been the last active war front in Syria since the fall of Bashar al Assad's regime on December 8th.
A region where Syrian factions supported by Turkey -under the global name of Syrian National Army (SNA)- and those integrated into the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurds, are engaged in violent battles using artillery, rockets, drones, and even Turkish aircraft.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent group, stated days ago that this offensive has already left hundreds dead.
The collapse of the dictatorship sparked a popular uprising in Manbij on December 8th. Thousands of citizens took to the streets demanding the withdrawal of FDS militants, who had incorporated this enclave into the de facto autonomy they maintain in the northeast of the country eight years ago. The revolt led to the ENS taking over the metropolis and forced the Kurds to retreat towards the Euphrates.
The Manbij district is another example of the complex scenario facing the new Syria. This territory, home to several hundred thousand Arabs along with significant minorities of Turkmen or Kurdish communities, is effectively controlled by Ankara's allied factions rather than the forces that took power in Damascus.
Image of a car bomb destroyed after its explosion.J. ESPINOSA
The paramilitaries in charge of the town insist that this situation is only "temporary" and that they are willing to join a unified army under central authority, as argued by Abu Azzam, a member of the military committee leading the population since December 9th.
While waiting for this hypothesis to materialize, the presence of Hayat al Tahrir al Sham (HTS) uniformed personnel -in power in Damascus- is fading after a major checkpoint west of the city of Al Bab, also under the ENS's control.
From there, Turkish influence is as evident as the base they have established a few kilometers ahead, in Al Zarzour. The signs overseeing the route are written in Turkish -a huge "Stop" sign warns travelers as they approach the military facilities- and the logistics of the entire complex follow NATO standards.
The signs of artillery impacts on the road surface are a reminder of the violent battles that this entire region east of Aleppo witnessed for years. Here, the front line moved recurrently like an accordion, and the same enclaves changed hands multiple times.
The former Manbij hotel also reflects the changing fortunes of those who managed this enclave. Next to it stands the skeleton of what was the Islamic State (ISIS) court. Its facade, painted in black, still displays one of its slogans: "Only God can judge us." The hotel complex was the Kurdish headquarters. Ocalan's photos and other leaders of that community are remembered by the new rulers of the place, placed next to a staircase to serve as doormats.
Manbij is just another small-scale example of the long ordeal that the entire country endured. The metropolis was captured by opposition forces of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) in July 2012. For almost 18 months, the city was a democratic model controlled by local assemblies that included all armed groups and civil society.
However, over time, the various groups began to vie for power centers, allowing the rise of the Islamic State, which took over the population in early 2014.
That marked the beginning of the fundamentalists' reign of terror. After the victory on December 8th, squares were renamed and adorned with portraits of the countless dead left by this long process. Those who fell fighting against the regime, against FDS militants, and also against ISIS.
During Assad's rule, before 2011, one of the main roundabouts was given the bizarre name of the Duck Square. "The regime built a statue of that animal here," says Moawiya Al Saleh, one of the residents.
Encouraged by their messianic ideology, the extremists blew up the monument, and from that moment on -Saleh recalls- they turned the roundabout into a place for public executions.
"They made you go through Islamic law courses for several weeks. If you failed the exam, you had to retake it. You couldn't be on the street during prayer time. They beheaded and crucified in this same square. Daesh (the derogatory term now given to ISIS) was horror," recalls the young man, who remained in Manbij during those years.
The place now displays a photo of Abu Hamza and his brother, two local fighters who lost their lives battling the fundamentalists. "Despite the pain that crosses our hearts, your martyrdom will always be a pride in the crown we wear on our heads," reads next to their images.
The horror caused a massive exodus of residents. Abu Azzam estimates that nearly 40% of the town's residents fled alongside the remnants of the FSA. He was one of them. He ended up in Turkey. The military leader was only 16 years old when he joined the protests demanding reforms from Bashar al Assad. When Assad responded with a bloodbath, he decided that peaceful protests were futile and joined the nascent armed groups.
"Daesh was terrible, but we can't forget that of all the regimes we've had to endure, the one that caused the most harm and deaths was Bashar's," he insists.