On 28 August 2017, pro-Syrian government media reported that Ibrahim al-Banawi, commander of the Northern Sun Battalion's Soldiers of the Two Holy Mosques Brigade, had defected to the Syrian Army in the southern Raqqa countryside; this was proven to be false, as Ibrahim was still with the Northern Sun Battalion in January 2018. On 29 August 2017, Adnan Abu Amjad, former deputy commander of the Northern Sun Battalion and the general commander of the Manbij Military Council, was killed in action during the Battle of Raqqa.