in Manbij. Meanwhile, the YPG also announced that another foreign volunteer, the Egyptian Badin al-Imam, had been killed during the battle for Manbij. A meeting of representatives for more than sixty local Arab tribes with SDF officials and Manbij Civilian Council members was organized at Abu Abrus village to discuss the future of the whole Manbij region after ISIL was driven off. The Manbij Civilian Council expressed their wishes for the area to fully join the Rojava federation, though said that the region could also choose self-administration or to become completely independent from Rojava. SDF officials said that they "want everyone to participate in administrating the city, whether they are against us or not". On the other side, SOHR claimed that the SDF had displaced Arabs in the countryside of Manbij; the SDF leadership denied this, saying that the concerned villages had not been cleared of mines yet, so if the residents were allowed to return they could die. One SDF official argued that "some civilians after three days of displacement already complain they cannot go back to their village. This is not realistic and they have to wait." By 9 August, ISIL fighters still held parts of the Cultural Center, Emel Hospital, a hotel, the Security Crossroad, a post office, the Al-Mûxeta market, the Al-Serab and Al-Cura neighborhoods, the Agriculture School and the Jarablus road, which they still defended fiercely amid slow SDF advances. Other pockets such as Tatbekat Prison had by then fallen, while al-Masdar News estimated that only around 100 ISIL fighters, mostly snipers, and their families were left in Manbij. Nevertheless, the few remaining ISIL forces held around 1,000 civilians hostage, which made any airstrikes and major attacks extremely difficult for the anti-ISIL coalition. During the night, ISIL forces attacked SDF positions in the northern countryside, though the assault was eventually beaten back. On 10 August, seven ISIL "inghimasi" suicide bombers and fighters reportedly attacked a U.S. outpost near the Tishrin Dam, attempting to inflict as much damage as possible. The pro-ISIL Amaq News Agency claimed that at least 41 U.S. soldiers and Kurdish fighters were killed in resulting clashes, mostly by explosives. On the same day, the YPG announced the death of U.S. volunteer Jordan MacTaggart in course of the fighting in Manbij. On 12 August, the SDF announced that they had launched a final assault to capture the last ISIL pockets. The remaining ISIL