The leader of the so-called "Syrian Democratic Forces", Mazloum Abdi, announced in a television interview broadcast on Wednesday, "freezing" all operations against the Islamic State, which despite its field defeat is still active in the form of sleeper cells.

"We have frozen all our actions against ISIS now," Abdi said in an interview in Kurdish on Ronahi Kurdish television, noting that it would be limited to "defensive action" to repel the group's attacks.

The Kurdish forces have repeatedly said they feared that their involvement in fighting Turkish forces, which have been waging an offensive a week ago, could negatively affect their efforts to pursue IS cells and maintain security in detention centers and camps.

Following the announcement of the elimination of the so-called "Caliphate State" in March, the SDF was engaged in US support in pursuing the organization's sleeper cells, especially in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

The group has adopted several attacks in recent months, most recently the bombing of a car bomb in the city of Qamishli, which killed six people in the third day of the Turkish attack against Kurdish fighters.

ISIS Detainees
Several European countries have expressed serious concern over the repercussions of the Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria on the battle against IS cells, as well as the fate of 2,500 to 3,000 foreigners out of 12 thousand ISIS members in the prisons of Kurdish fighters.

France and other countries are looking into the possibility of transferring them to Iraq for prosecution, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who insists on continuing the attack, "We will do what is necessary with the prisoners of the organization."

However, Abdi - whose real name is Farhat Abdi Shaheen - stressed in the interview that "the future of ISIS detainees will be decided."

After an attack by Turkey and pro-Syrian Syrian factions on the ninth of this month, and in the face of Washington's insistence on withdrawing its troops from areas under their control, the Kurds found no solution other than to resort to Damascus and its ally Moscow.

The result was that the Kurdish self-administration announced last Sunday an agreement with Damascus to provide for the deployment of regime forces along the border with Turkey to support the SDF in its response to the Turkish attack.

Under the agreement, regime forces deployed in the past two days in the cities of Manbij and Kobani (northeast of Aleppo) and other areas.

Abdi also said that US President Donald Trump had not objected to an agreement concluded by Kurdish-led forces with the Syrian government to protect Syria from the Turkish attack.

He said Russia would guarantee that agreement, which would pave the way for a political solution that could guarantee Kurdish rights in Syria.

He added that the agreement obliges Syrian government forces to deploy throughout the north-eastern border area with Turkey, and that reports of the handover of the SDF's control over its areas to government forces are incorrect.