recent pause on the military s incursion permanent, eyewitnesses on the ground have told nbc news fighting has continued between syrian democratic forces, who are populated by kurdish fighters, and the turkish backed militias in what is being called a safe done. joining me now is richard engel who is on the ground in northern syria. richard, to the bent st of your knowledge, what s going on with respect to the fighting around where you are? so turkey was rewarded by president trump having sanctions lifted for having abided by the ceasefire. apparently, saying that the turkish main military offensive would stop and then turkey today saying that it s not going to continue its offensive. it s going to abide by the ceasefire. but what s happening really is very, very different from that. turkey is using militias. deniable militias. militias that are controlled by turkish special forces.