page_title: Manbij offensive
section_title: Battle for the last ISIL pockets and capture of Manbij city
hierarchical_section_title: Manbij offensive / The offensive / Battle for the last ISIL pockets and capture of Manbij city
caption_attribution_description: Español: La ciudad de Manjib al 5 de agosto de 2016, siendo disputada por el Estado Islámico y las Fuerzas Democráticas Sirias.
context_page_description: The Manbij offensive, code-named Operation Martyr and Commander Faysal Abu Layla by the SDF, was a 2016 military offensive operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces to capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and eventually, the ISIL-held areas through Al-Bab to Herbel, in the area referred to as the "Manbij Pocket" in the northern Aleppo Governorate. The main goal of the offensive was to cut off ISIL's last supply routes from Turkey, and to prevent ISIL fighters from escaping across the border. During the first 5 days of the offensive, the US-led coalition conducted over 55 airstrikes in support of the SDF. After capturing Manbij city on 12 August, the SDF announced that the offensive would continue until the whole countryside around Manbij was captured, though the offensive effectively ended shortly after Turkish-backed forces started Operation Euphrates Shield.
context_section_description: While ISIL forces continued their attacks in the countryside on 31 July, as heavy fighting was reported in Adasa village west of Manbij, the SDF achieved a number of breakthroughs in the city itself. SDF fighters captured the Al-Na'imi and Mestosaf neighborhoods, the Ghasania school and much of the Al-Jazeera road. According to SOHR, the SDF had by then captured 40% of Manbij, while Reuters reported that 70% of the city had fallen to the SDF, including most of the west, east and north. In consequence, ISIL forces were mostly confined to the old quarters in the central and southern city. By this point, 40,000 to 50,000 civilian residents of Manbij had fled the city, although a number of locals remained to volunteer with the SDF and had begun training to fight ISIL. Sometime in course of July, prominent Australian ISIL battalion commander Ezzit Raad was also killed in the city.
  On 1 August, the SDF captured Jib Nashama village south of Manbij. The next day, SDF fighters again managed to break through ISIL frontlines in Manbij, seizing the Bujiya roundabout in the city center, and the Bashar Roundabout to the south. The SDF advances since late July had reduced the ISIL forces in Manbij to a number of isolated pockets, with different news outlets claiming that the SDF had taken 60–80% of the city. By 3 August, there was still bitter fighting at the Jazeera Road, where SDF fighters coming from the north and south attempted to cut off the ISIL troops in the east from the city center, to which most ISIL forces had begun to retreat. Meanwhile, the isolated ISIL pocket at Tetbekat Prison in western Manbij continued to resist. It was also reported that two more foreign YPG volunteers were killed in course of the fighting in the city: Dean Carl Evans, a British citizen, and Martin Gruden, a Slovenian citizen.
  SDF fighters continued to advance over the following days, capturing Mankuba village in Manbij's northern outskirts, as well as the al-Hal market, the al-Thor school, the Sinaa and al-Tal neighborhoods in the city itself following heavy clashes. By 5 August, the SDF claimed to have taken 90% of the city. Despite these recent successes, fighting in the city remained fierce, and SDF continued to send reinforcements into the city. Pro-opposition media reported that 300 Asayish who had been ordered to join the frontlines had refused to do so, resulting in their arrest.
  On late 6 August, the SDF overran ISIL positions in several parts of Manbij, bringing the city almost completely under their control. This led to a number of false reports that declared the city captured, even though fierce fighting continued for a number of ISIL pockets in the northern and central city; most importantly, ISIL fighters still held the Al-Sirb neighborhood and parts of the central market, where a minor ISIL counter-attack failed on the same day. The next day, the SDF claimed to have captured the İhyati Bakery, the central market, as well as the Bazaar and Sheikh Eqîl neighborhoods. Heavy fighting continued for several other parts of the city center, where ISIL fighters had taken many civilians hostage to use them as human shields.
  On 8 August, the SDF claimed that they had taken over 90% of the city center, with the ISIL forces mostly confined to a small pocket in the northern city. In the course of their retreat into the northern pocket, however, ISIL fighters had taken their civilian hostages with them. Due to this, the SDF offered a new deal to the Islamic State in Manbij in the form of free passage out of the city, if the militants released all civilians. In response the offer, the ISIL war committee sent a letter to Abu Yahya al-Shami, who had by then become commander of the surviving ISIL forces in Manbij. The ISIL leadership ordered him to not surrender or withdraw under any circumstances, but rather fight to the death. Any ISIL fighter who wanted to surrender or flee was to be killed, as were those who displayed a defeatist attitude or welcomed the defeat of ISIL in Manbij.
  Meanwhile, the YPG also announced that another foreign volunteer, the 
caption: Situation in Manbij city on 5 August.
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