A top US general said the ISIL militants defied their leader's orders to fight to the death in a recent battle, instead retreating to the North, CNN reported.
Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of the US forces in the Middle East, added that the refusal to follow orders occurred during the battle for the recently liberated town of Manbij in Syria.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Bagdadi told fighters in Manbij "to fight to the death" and "they didn't follow his direction," according to Votel, questioning how much command and control ISIS leadership has over its forces.
Still, he said that ISIL has a "strong network" that relies on "guidance from centralized leadership."
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) seized full control over the Northern city of Manbij near the Turkish border on August 12, after the last remaining ISIL terrorists, who had been using civilians as human shields, escaped.
The Military Council of Manbij in Aleppo province announced that over 4,000 Takfiri militants have been killed in tough battle with the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces since the beginning of Manbij liberation operations, FNA reported.
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