Crossword Genius

Fights the rioting mob and acts frenziedly to contain it (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

combats

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'fights' is the definition.
(I know this)

'rioting mob and acts frenziedly to contain it' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'mob' is 'omb' which is within the answer.
an anagram of 'acts' is 'cats' which is present in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'the' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for combats that I've seen is " Fights".)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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