The cities we travel through in northern Syria are crowded with racial masses. The traces of the fighting against IS can be seen everywhere.

In March of this year, the terror network IS lost the last waste of its so-called caliphate, when Kurdish-led SDF forces captured Baghouz in northeastern Syria.

In November, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the terrorist leader who proclaimed the caliphate, was killed. But the uncertainty of the people living in the large areas of land that IS once controlled is great today. Barely one could catch his breath after IS was defeated, before the next battle began.

The map is redrawed in Syria

Here in northern Syria, the map is now being redrawn. Again. The Syrian government flags over roadblocks previously controlled by the Kurds. We meet Russian military who do not want to be filmed but who share base with Kurdish forces and Syrian government troops.

The US decision to withdraw its troops in northern Syria was interpreted by Turkey as a green light to act. Nearly 100,000 people are still on the run after Turkey entered northern Syria two months ago. After a few days of fighting in hopeless inferiority, the Kurds signed an agreement with the Syrian government in Damascus, and the future of Kurdish self-government is unclear. Turkey wants to expand its control in northern Syria and demands that the Kurdish forces withdraw in a security zone that extends 30 kilometers into Syrian territory from the Turkish border.

Russia and Turkey have joint patrols

A Russian-Turkish agreement on ceasefire means that Russia and Turkey today involve joint patrols in areas previously guarded by the Kurds. In the town of Kobani, which is on the Turkish border, upset civilian stones were thrown at Turkish and Russian military - and Syrian journalists who traveled in with Syrian government forces in the former Kurdish areas.

As we drive through government-controlled parts of Syria, we often see stickers with President Bashar al-Assad's face cracked across the rear windows of many passenger cars. But as we drive into the city of Manbij in northern Syria, we encounter several cars with the Syrian government flag taped over.

The key state of Manbij is strategically located on the M4 - the highway connecting western Syria to the Iraqi border - and which both Turkey and the Syrian government troops want to control. Officially there is a cease-fire. But sporadic fighting is going on along the middle road further east.

“We kept the oil. It was the oil that financed IS ”

A week ago, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced that the US withdrawal in northern Syria has been completed. About a year ago there were about 2,000 US military here. Today, most of their bases are evacuated and the force reduced to 600 soldiers. Some of them have been located in the oil-rich area of ​​north-eastern Syria.

“We kept the oil. It was the oil that funded the IS, "said US President Donald Trump in a comment on the withdrawal. So far, the US presence guarantees Kurdish self-government control over the oil in the north, but analysts believe that the Syrian government will eventually claim at least parts of it.

Many of the residents do not dare to trust the ceasefire

One of the cities affected by the US withdrawal is Manbij.

After Kurdish forces defeated IS, the inhabitants lived here for a relatively stable period. But the US withdrawal left the field free for Turkey's offensive.

Many of the residents we speak to in Manbij do not dare to trust the ceasefire.

Recently, Turkey has stepped up its military operations in northern Syria and Turkey's foreign minister has threatened a new offensive in northern Syria if the Kurdish SDF forces do not move further from the Turkish border.

- The talk about a safe zone is not right. People are still being killed, says Ibrahim Mohammed as we meet in Manbij.

The struggle for the vast lands once controlled by IS is hardly over. It has just begun.