The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Tuesday they have launched a counter-offensive against the Ankara-backed Syrian National Army to take back areas near Syria’s northern border with Turkey.The SDF is Washington’s critical ally in Syria, targeting sleeper cells of the extremist ISIS group scattered across the country’s east.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Since the fall of the totalitarian rule of Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, clashes have intensified between the US-backed group and the SNA, which captured the key city of Manbij and the areas surrounding it. The intense weekslong clashes come at a time when Syria, battered by over a decade of war and economic misery, negotiates its political future following half a century under the Assad dynasty’s rule.Ruken Jamal, spokesperson of the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, under the SDF, told The Associated Press that their fighters are just over seven miles away from the