Turkey’s anti-PKK assault leaves Kurds more divided

Turkey’s unremitting assault against the PKK is destabilizing Iraqi Kurdistan, weakening the rebels on the one hand while bolstering support for them among disaffected locals on the other.

Iraq

Defections threaten Ahrar al-Sham jihadist movement in Syria

Once considered by some Western observers as a formidable opposition movement, Ahrar al-Sham is experiencing major defections and facing survival challenges.

Syria

Syrian Kurdish authorities issue work cards for children

The Child Protection Office affiliated with the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in Manbij has started issuing work cards for children ages 10 to 18, in a move it claims aims to avoid forced conscription by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Syria

Turkish-controlled Syrian region faces water crisis

The drop in the groundwater level and the drying up of some artesian wells have caused a water crisis in the city of al-Bab in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, and many citizens have been struggling with the high prices of drinking water sold from cisterns.

Syria

Syrian jihadist group ramps up efforts to oust rivals from Idlib

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, has asked a Chechen jihadist group to either join its ranks or leave the battlefronts, in a move that many consider to be part of HTS' policy to have its name removed from international terrorist lists.

Syria

Islamic State exploits economic downturn in Iraq, Syria, US envoy says

John Godfrey said the thousands of suspected Islamic State fighters held in northeast Syria constitute a security threat to the region.

Syria

Syrian aid agencies brace for vote on border crossing: 'There is no Plan B'

Humanitarian actors are stockpiling supplies and sounding the alarm ahead of a UN Security Council vote that could eliminate the United Nations' last remaining entry point into northwest Syria.

Syria

Russia rules out opening second Syria border crossing for aid

Russia's UN ambassador said his government is still considering whether or not to veto the UN's mandate for Syria's last remaining aid crossing.

Syria

Kurdish-led forces intensify crackdown on Islamic State cells in northeast Syria

Islamic State activities seem to have diminished during the month of June in the Kurdish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria amid a crackdown led by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Syria

US forces in Syria come under attack after airstrikes on Iran-backed militias

Renewed fighting in Iraq and Syria is bound to set off scrutiny in Congress.

Syria

Blinken calls Syrian humanitarian situation 'untenable'

At a meeting of the members of the US D-ISIS coalition in Rome, the US secretary of state makes appeal for "stabilization."

Syria

Intel: Blinken urges allies to repatriate IS fighters from Syria 

The Syrian Democratic Forces are holding an estimated 10,000 suspected Islamic State fighters, a situation Secretary of State Antony Blinken said is "untenable."

Syria