Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his invasion into northeast Syria has begun. A spokesman for the Kurdish fighters said Turkish warplanes have started attacking the region.
Turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria on Wednesday just days after U.S. troops pulled back from the area, with air strikes and artillery hitting YPG militia positions around the border town of Ras al Ain.
Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in a phone call that Tehran is opposed to military action in Syria, the foreign ministry said.
President Trump on Monday defended his decision to pull U.S. troops out of northeast Syria, saying he is keeping his pledge to get Americans out of ‘endless wars.’
World leaders were “preparing for the worst” Monday as Turkey moved quickly toward a sweeping military offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria after President Trump’s surprise announcement that he would pull American forces out of a crucial buffer zone along the border between the two nations.
They may have his back on impeachment, but some of President Donald Trump’s most loyal allies are suddenly revolting against his decision to pull back U.S. troops from northern Syria.
For months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to send troops into neighboring Syria. Then, on Saturday, he announced he would deliver on his promise and send Turkish air and ground forces into the country. Erdogan plans to create a “safe zone” along the Turkish-Syrian border. The purpose of this is to push back the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are led by the predominantly Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ankara considers the Kurdish militia a threat to its national security.
ISIS fighters and other terrorists comprising the more than 10,000 Islamic militants jailed in northeast Syria could launch a mass prison break as U.S. troops withdraw from the region in response to Turkey’s impending incursion, Syrian Kurdish fighters warned Monday.
The White House announced late Sunday that Turkey will soon move forward with its planned military operation in northeast Syria in an area where U.S. troops have been deployed and operating with Kurdish-led forces.
The White House said Sunday that US forces in northeast Syria will move aside and clear the way for an expected Turkish assault, essentially abandoning Kurdish fighters who fought alongside American forces in the years-long battle to defeat Islamic State militants.
A large-scale Turkish invasion of northern Syria appears to be imminent after the deadline to jointly establish a ‘safe zone’ in the region with the United States by the end of September passed without a resolution between the two countries.
Tehran and Moscow are said to be at loggerheads over the building of Iranian military installations being erected near the Syrian capital of Damascus.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Saturday demanded an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. and Turkish troops from his country and warned that Syrian government forces had the right to take countermeasures if they refused.
Despite public domestic Christian support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, some members of minority Christian groups argue he manipulates and threatens them.
Russia is expanding its Hmeimim airbase in Syria and rebuilding a second landing strip to allow the facility to serve more aircraft, Russian news agencies cited an unnamed Defense Ministry official as saying on Thursday.
Syrian forces used chemical weapons during an attack in Latakia province in May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday.
A military complex on the Iraq-Syria border suspected of being used by Iran shows continued construction despite multiple recent airstrikes targeting it, new satellite images reveal.
The Syrian army sent military reinforcements consisting of tanks, vehicles, soldiers, ammunition, and weapons to the towns of Jamlah and Aabdyn near the Syrian border with the Israeli Golan Heights for unknown reasons, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Saturday.
Unknown unmanned aircraft attacked posts of Iranian-backed fighters in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning, killing at least 10 people, according to Arabic media reports.
The leaders of Turkey, Russia, and Iran meeting in Ankara on Monday agreed to try to ease tensions in northwest Syria’s Idlib region, but disagreements between the countries appeared to linger, especially over the threat from Islamic State.