Enemies of backward ways (4)

I believe the answer is:

foes

'enemies' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'of backward ways' is the wordplay.
'backward' is a reversal indicator.
'ways' becomes 'es' (east and south - two directions).
'of' in reverse letter order is 'fo'.
'fo'+'es'='FOES'

(Other definitions for foes that I've seen before include "Enemies" , "Adversaries" .)

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