Abu Layla (1984-5 June 2016), born Saadoun al-Faisal, was the leader of the Northern Sun Battalion of the Free Syrian Army during the Syrian Civil War. He is regarded among Syrians, Kurds, and westerners to be one of the greatest heroes of the fight against the Islamic State, having been of mixed Kurdish and Arab descent, and having defended Kobani and fought in the liberation of Manbij. Abu Layla led his Northern Sun Battalion in the many battles in northern Syria, and he was one of the co-founders of the Manbij Military Council; he died in the operation to liberate Manbij from IS.
Biography[]
Abu Layla and Abu Adel (right)
Saadoun al-Faisal was born in 1984 in Kobani, Aleppo Governorate, Syria to a family of Sunni Muslim Arabs and Kurds; he grew up in the town of Manbij on the border with Turkey. al-Faisal worked as a car mechanic, and he had four daughters with his wife. At the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, he joined the Free Syrian Army and fought in the battle of Aleppo as well as in the Latakia Governorate offensives. Later, he decided to return to Manbij to fight against the jihadists there, and he formed Jabhat al-Akrad to fight against the Islamic State and other extremists. In 2014, using the nom de guerre of "Abu Layla", he founded the Northern Sun Battalion in northern Syria and found himself besieged in Kobani. Abu Layla was wounded seven times in the battle, and he led his battalion alongside the YPG and other Syrian Opposition fighters against the Islamic State militants. Abu Layla was famous not only for his strength in fighting the Islamic State, but also for saving an IS fighter from the rubble of Kobani in a video posted on the internet.
Heroic death[]
In early 2015, he chose to end his career as a commander; however, he decided to rejoin the battalion for the offensive in Hasakah Governorate. In 2016, he co-founded the Manbij Military Council to coordinate Syrian Opposition groups in an offensive to liberate Manbij, and he was active with his battalion around Manbij and the Tishrin Dam. On 2 June 2016, he was wounded in the head by shrapnel during the offensive, and he was taken to Suleymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the doctors could not remove the shrapnel from his head. He died on 5 June 2016, and he was buried in Kobani with full military honors. The offensive was named "Martyr Abu Layla Operation" after its commander, who was considered to be a great hero of the civil war. Abu Adel took over his battalion after his death.