Battle site, area that’s imperfect, surrounded by ebbing African river (2,7)
I believe the answer is:
el alamein
'battle site' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'area that's imperfect surrounded by ebbing african river' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'that's imperfect' becomes 'lame' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'surrounded by' is an insertion indicator.
'ebbing' says the letters should be written in reverse (letters go back or 'ebb').
'african river' becomes 'nile' (I've seen this in another clue).
'nile' backwards is 'elin'.
'a'+'lame'='alame'
'alame' put into 'elin' is 'EL ALAMEIN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for el alamein that I've seen before include "North African World War two battle" , "WWII battle" , "Place in Egypt where Montgomery defeated Rommel" , "North African WW2 battle site" , "victory" .)