![TOPSHOT - Turkish-backed Syrian fighters take up an armed position with sandbags along the frontline with SDF forces near the village of Kiridiyah, about 30 kilometres west of the northern town of Manbij, on January 15, 2019. / AFP / Bakr ALKASEM](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/LUBZDHTZEQBFFY7P453EA7U6DY.jpg?smart=true&auth=f85735f710d92ed20c62ad2195b40acc60832cb852621e0b3374687ab8210023&width=400&height=225)
Turkish-backed Syrian fighters take up an armed position with sandbags along the frontline with SDF forces. AFP
Turkish-backed Syrian fighters take up an armed position with sandbags along the frontline with SDF forces. AFP
SDF locked in pitched battles with 'diehard' ISIS fighters in east Syria
ISIS is confined to a small patch of land near the Iraqi border
Hashem Osseiran
24 January, 2019