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Aleppo Adversarials
ISIS Top Dawg dies near Manbij
Abu Khalid al-Tunisi, ISIS Emir (prince) of Manbij, was killed along with a number of his escorts when the US-backed SDF fighters hit his car in Manbij city, military sources reported. The Tunisian jihadi has been leading ISIS operations in Manbij city on the Syrian-Turkish border after the group’s military commander was killed in earlier clashes with the SDF. “The death of Abu Khalid al-Tunisi was confirmed after our forces bombed his car in Manbij city,” a spokesman for the SDF told ARA News. “At least four ISIS militants were accompanying al-Tunisi when we targeted their car with an artillery shell. They were all killed.” The Syrian Democratic Forces have recently recaptured the entire countryside of Manbij, including over 110 villages and farms, after heavy fighting with ISIS militants. Supported by the US-led coalition’s airstrikes, the SDF has advanced towards the ISIS-held city of Manbij after launching a new operation five weeks ago. Since the start of the battle for Manbij border pocket in northern Syria on 31 May, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly killed a number of prominent jihadis from the Islamic State group (ISIS), including Manbij governor Osama al-Tounsi, jihadi commander Dahham al-Hussein, and ISIS senior leader Abu Hamza al-Ansari. ISIS is leaving Manbij, says SDF spokesperson [Rudaw] The liberation of Manbij is near as Islamic State (ISIS) knows they are defeated and are trying to blend in with the civilian population to escape the city, said Shervan Derwish, spokesperson of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). “ISIS militants are wearing civilian clothes and leaving their weapons in peoples’ homes in order to escape,” Derwish said in an SDF video posted to YouTube. “They are carrying razors in their pockets in order to be able to quickly shave off their beards in order not to be identified.” “They know that there is no hope and we are taking over,” he added. “They are leaving.” The SDF continues to advance into the city, evacuating civilians as they go. On Friday, the SDF announced that a sniper battalion had arrived in Manbij to participate in the final push for the city. Syrian Democratic Forces launched an operation to liberate Manbij from Islamic State under the umbrella of the locally formed Manbij Military Council in early June. The SDF are a multi-ethnic force dominated by the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG). Routing the Islamic State from Manbij will cut the extremist group off from the border with Turkey, thereby limiting its ability to bring in supplies and fighters. It will also bring the Kurds closer to connecting their cantons of Kobane and Efrin.
[ARA News] MANBIJ – More than 14,000 Syrian citizens have been able to escape the city of Manbij
This comes after the SDF opened humanitarian corridors between the war-torn city and its liberated countryside. Most of the families that escaped Manbij city have been received by their sons who are fighting in the ranks of the SDF-led Manbij Military Council, who had earlier fled Manbij and formed the council to fight against ISIS. According to the leadership of the SDF-led Manbij Military Council, the delay of liberating the city came due to the fear for the stranded civilians inside the city.
[ARA News] ALEPPO – Militant fighters of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front on Wednesday launched an offensive on a Kurdish district in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, using mortar shells, amid attempts to infiltrate into the district, activists and military sources reported. Nusra fighters, supported by Islamist rebels of the Ahrar al-Sham Movement, targeted populated areas in the Sheikh Maqsoud district with mortar fire, killing at least four people and wounding a dozen more. “The injured were transferred to a field hospital for treatment. Some of them are in critical condition,” a medical source in the Sheikh Maqsoud hospital told ARA News. “Rescue teams are still searching for survivors under the rubble.” The Islamists also targeted a security checkpoint for the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) at the entrance of Sheikh Maqsoud district. “Clashes broke out when a number of terrorists tried to infiltrate into the district. Nusra and its allies launched the mortar attack in order to cover the infiltration attempt, but we were eventually able to repel the offensive,” YPG officer Ali Hamo told ARA News. The official added that Nusra and its allies were forced to withdraw after six of their fighters were killed and four others were wounded. The Kurdish district of Sheikh Maqsoud has been under siege by Syrian Islamist rebels for years, and violence has recently intensified in the district as the Kurdish YPG forces have been trying to push back Islamist fighters of the Nusra Front (al-Qaeda branch in Syria) and the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-07-10 |
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