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STORY: The U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria that helped defeat Islamic State in that country, has now announced that it is stopping all joint counter-terror operations with the U.S.-led coalition there...

... as a response to the ongoing attacks by Turkey's military in areas it controls.

The Kurdish fighters, known the Syrian Democratic Forces or the SDF, is made up primarily of fighters that Turkey dubs as terrorists.

The new announcement comes despite Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder having said earlier this week that operations against IS had not stopped.

“Right now the de-ISIS mission does continue."

“We have reduced the number of patrols because again we do these in partnering with the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) and so they have reduced the number of patrols that they're doing and so that therefore necessitates us to reduce the patrols."

Turkey has ramped its shelling and air strikes on Northern Syria in recent weeks.

It is also preparing for a ground invasion against the Syrian Kurdish fighters.

The SDF has long warned that fighting off a new Turkish incursion would divert resources away from protecting a prison holding IS fighters or targeting IS sleeper cells that still wage attacks in Syria.

SDF head Mazloum Abdi told Reuters this week he wanted a “stronger” message from Washington after seeing unprecedented Turkish deployments along the border.