A top ISIL commander was reportedly killed in clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Um Mayyal village on the road between Aleppo and Manbij in Northern Syria, Kurdish sources said. "We have collected corpses of 24 ISIl militants who were killed in the clashes, including their commander Dahham al-Hussein," the official said. Al-Hussein was appointed by the ISIL as an Emir [prince] in Um Mayyal village and he was in charge of the group's military operations in Western Manbij. Reports said earlier today that the fighters of Manbij Military Council, affiliated to the SDF, repelled ISIL's attacks on its positions near the town of Manbij Northeast of Aleppo, inflicting a heavy death toll on the militants. The SDF fighters fended off the ISIL attacks in the region between the villages of al-Sultaniyeh and al-Hamdouniyeh one kilometer to the West of Manbij. In the meantime, the ISIL attacked the SDF positions from three directions near the village of Madana, but the strong defense of the SDF fighter forced them to retreat from the battlefield. Unofficial reports claimed that at least 69 ISIL terrorists were killed in the unsuccessful attacks on the SDF strongholds in the Western, Northern and Northwestern sides of Manbij. Also, the SDF fighters, in their cleansing operation near the village of Kabarjeh al-Kabireh found 21 bodies of dead ISIL fighters.
