US official speaks out against possible Turkish offensive in Syria

After Iraqi Kurdistan-backed Rojava Peshmerga are sent to the Turkish-Syrian border, Turkish officials inveigh against the action and what it represents.

Iraq

FSA sends troops for Turkey's planned Syria operation

Free Syrian Army factions have already started to send fighters to the Syrian-Turkish border in support of Turkey's expected operation against Syrian Kurdish forces there.

Syria

Syrian writer gives voice to victims of war

Betul Abras, who has fled from the Syrian war herself in 2013, has been helping other victims of war to heal for the last five and a half years.

Syria

How does Turkey's threatened Syria invasion play elsewhere?

As Turkey prepares for a possible offensive against Kurdish militias in Syria, Moscow is watching for any mistakes that multiple players, including the Unites States and the United Arab Emirates, might make in their efforts to deter the operation.

Syria

Trump’s pick for top general could expand Mideast advising role

The Pentagon’s incoming Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman has a long track record of training foreign military forces.

Syria

Erdogan says Trump responded 'positively' to Turkey’s threats on Syria

According to Ankara, the US president expressed support both for its stance against US-allied Kurdish militants in Syria and its efforts to extradite Fethullah Gulen as its chief suspect in the 2016 Turkish coup attempt.

Syria

Iran media on Bashir trip to Syria: Arab states have accepted reality of Assad

Iranian media believe that the Sudanese president's meeting with Bashar al-Assad is a sign that Arab countries are beginning to accept the reality on the ground in Syria.

Saudi Arabia

Opposition group in Idlib orders extreme punishments

One of two opposition governments in rebel-controlled Idlib, Syria, has implemented a form of Islamic Sharia punishment that calls for criminals to be executed, exiled or have their hands cut off.

Syria

Turkey's 'Olive Branch' takes root in Syrian olive business

Kurdish olive growers in Afrin, Syria, complain bitterly that Turkish authorities who control the area aren't doing anything to stop massive exploitation and armed extortion that is costing the local oil economy $100 million.

Syria

Pentagon warns Turkey against operation targeting Syrian Kurds

Despite Turkey's threats to attack the US-allied Kurdish militia in Syria, there is little evidence that Washington would let Ankara move into the Syrian Kurdish area under its protection.

Syria

Trust needed between Arabs and Kurds to stabilize Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor

A series of attacks and assassinations in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor have heightened tensions between the Arab population and Kurds.

Syria

Erdogan says Turkish troops to march into northeast Syria

Some experts think Erdogan's threat to send troops into northeast Syria is a trial balloon that has more to do with Turkey's March 31 local elections than anything else, but others take his statements more seriously.

Syria