The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Tuesday it has launched a counteroffensive against the Ankara-backed Syrian National Army to retake areas near Syria's northern border with Turkey, the Associated Press reported.

The SDF is Washington's most important ally in Syria, battling sleeper cells of the Islamic State extremist group scattered across the east of the country.

Clashes between the U.S.-backed group and the SDF, which has captured the key city of Manbij and surrounding areas, have intensified since the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

Ruken Jamal, a spokesman for the Kurdish Women's Protection Forces unit, told the Associated Press that their fighters are just over seven miles from the center of Manbij as the counteroffensive continues.

“Syria is now at a new stage, and there are discussions about the future of the country,” Jamal said. - Turkey, with its attacks, is trying to distract us with fighting and exclude us from the talks in Damascus.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says dozens of people on both sides have been killed since the SDF offensive in northern Syria against the Kurds began earlier this month.