The Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion participated in the Manbij offensive from May 2016, and helped to encircle Manbij city. The militia's fighters encountered ISIL forces armed with HEAT missiles during the fighting around the town. One of the group's chief commanders, Ali Salah al-Din Bish Alo (alias "Botan Turkmani"), was killed during the Manbij campaign. Ali had been a veteran of the Kurdish Front and also served as commander for the al-Bab Military Council while leading the Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion. The SDF later named a military academy after him. After Turkey and allied FSA groups launched Operation Euphrates Shield against ISIL and the YPG/YPJ, a Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion commander expressed a strong disapproval of the Turkish occupation of northern Syria. He claimed that Turkey was prolonging the Syrian Civil War by intervening, and that it wanted to prevent the formation of a democratic government in northern Syria.