Fearing invasion by Erdogan's forces, Syrian Kurdish YPG to withdraw from strip along Turkish border
The Kurdish YPG militia will pull forces and heavy weapons from a strip along Syria's border with Turkey under U.S.-Turkish deals, an official in the YPG-led alliance said on Tuesday. The YPG withdrew from the Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain border positions in recent days, ...
U.S. cannot back Syrian forces who align with Assad or Russia, U.S. general warns Kurds
The United States will have to sever its military assistance to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) battling Islamic State if the fighters partner with Syrian President Bashar Assad or Russia, a senior U.S. general said on Sunday. The remarks by Army Lt. Gen. Paul ...
Turkey is ready to take over security in Syria's Manbij, Erdogan tells Trump
Turkey is ready to take over security in Syria's Manbij without delay, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President Donald Trump in a telephone call on Sunday, the Turkish presidency said. Erdogan said an attack that left four U.S. personnel dead last week in Manbij ...
A bomb planted on a public bus in the northwest Syrian town of Afrin killed three civilians and wounded about 20, several witnesses told Reuters on Sunday. The blast came on the first anniversary of Operation Olive Branch, an air and ground assault by Turkey ...
Islamic State in 'its final moments,' says U.S.-backed Syrian force
Islamic State militants are "living their final moments" in the last enclave they hold near the Iraqi border, where U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are attacking them, an SDF official said on Sunday. A defeat of the jihadis in the enclave would wipe out Islamic ...
U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters seen quitting flash-point Syrian area near Manbij
A convoy of Syrian Kurdish fighters has pulled out of the flash-point area of Manbij in northern Syria, close to territory controlled by Turkey, Syria's defense ministry said on Wednesday. Some 30 km (20 miles) from the Turkish border, the town occupies a critical spot ...
GOP senator more upbeat on Syria troop pullout after Trump assures him Islamic State will fall first
A senior Republican U.S. senator said he emerged from a White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Sunday reassured that Trump is committed to defeating Islamic State even as he plans to withdraw American troops from Syria. Sen. Lindsey Graham had warned that removing ...
Pro-Syrian regime forces enter Afrin to aid Kurds against Turkey, threatening to widen conflict
Pro-Syrian government forces entered Syria's northwestern Afrin region on Tuesday to help a Kurdish militia there fend off a Turkish assault, raising the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict. Soon after the convoy of militia fighters — waving Syrian flags and brandishing weapons ...
Ankara calls alleged Turkish gas attack in Syria's Afrin 'just a fabricated story'
Turkey never used chemical weapons in its operations in Syria, and takes the utmost care of civilians, its foreign minister said, after Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group accused it of carrying out a gas attack in Syria's Afrin region. "It's just a fabricated ...
Turkey tells U.S. to stop backing Syrian Kurds or risk confrontation on the ground in Afrin
Turkey urged the United States on Thursday to halt its support for Kurdish YPG fighters or risk confronting Turkish forces on the ground in Syria, some of Ankara's strongest comments yet about a potential clash with its NATO ally. The remarks, from the spokesman for ...
Turkey sends reinforcements into northern Syria to fight Kurds, rebel allies
Turkey has sent new military reinforcements including troops, vehicles and equipment into northern Syria, a war monitoring group and rebel and Kurdish sources said on Wednesday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the forces had crossed the border in the last 24 hours ...
Islamic State seen retaking ground from Syrian Kurds despite U.S.-led airstrikes
Islamic State fighters stormed a Syrian town held by Kurdish-led forces near Raqqa city on Monday, part of a wider offensive by the militants two days after their de facto capital was hit by some of the heaviest U.S.-led airstrikes in the conflict. The Kurdish ...
