ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The bodies of three American citizens who had fought alongside the Syrian-Kurdish YPG in the battle to recapture Manbij from the Islamic State (ISIS) were transferred to the Kurdistan Region for repatriation to the US , a border official said.
“On Monday the corpses of three (People’s Defense Units) YPG fighters, who were American citizens, were transferred to the Kurdistan Region through the Semelka border town,” Shawkat Berbahari, manager of Pishkhabour border-crossing with Syria, told Rudaw.
“The three American fighters were killed during Manbij liberation operations. A US consulate delegation attended the ceremony of returning the three corpses as they were handed over to them,” he added.
Jordan MacTaggart, William Savage, and Levi Jonathan Shirley, the three Americans, were among hundreds killed in battles to liberate contested Manbij.
Manbij was liberated August 12, after a 73-day operation.
At least 264 fighters were killed in the fighting, a YPG statement said, after the town was cleared of ISIS.
“During the operation, 4,180 ISIS militants were killed. The dead bodies of 724 of these were taken by YPG fighters and 112 were taken captive,” the statement said.
Many foreigners have joined the Kurdish forces in Rojava and northern Syria to fight ISIS, and several have been killed. Briton Dean Carl Evans, and Slovenian Martin Gruden were killed in the same offensive to retake Manbij. A Portuguese fighter Mario Nunes was killed in May in Til Temir.
