U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters are beginning to return to the front lines of the fight against the Islamic State in eastern Syria, now that Turkey’s offensive against the Kurds in the west has eased, a U.S. military spokesman said.

“I’m not going to, you know, say exactly where these fighters are coming from,” Col. Ryan Dillon told reporters Tuesday. “All I’ll say is that, you know, we are starting to see more fighters starting to return to the Middle Euphrates River Valley.”

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