The US has been repeatedly trying to reassure their Kurdish allies that they don’t face any major threat from Turkey. Turkey, however, seems to be going out of their way to make clear they are very much a threat, and that their goal in the region is the end of Kurdish...
Turkey Says US State Dept Claims of Ceasefire With Kurds Untrue, Vows to Continue Offensive
Last week, a four-day ceasefire was reached between Turkey and the US-backed Kurdish SDF to allow the SDF to withdraw from the contested city of Manbij. That ceasefire expired Monday, though the US State Department announced Tuesday that it had reached a deal with...
Turkey, Allies Violate Extended Ceasefire With Syrian Kurds, Dozens Killed
On Tuesday, the US State Department announced the extension of the ceasefire between Syria’s Kurdish SDF and Turkey’s allies. The initial ceasefire expired, but the new one was supposed to continue to the end of the week. It doesn’t seem to have lasted even a whole...
Israel Passing Messages to Syria’s HTS, But Turkey’s Influence Is a Concern
Both Israel and Turkey were at the forefront of this month’s regime change in Syria. The takeover of Syria by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alters the landscape of the region, but Turkey and Israel may quickly find themselves at odds over who’s really...
Turkey Masses Troops on Syria Border, Large Scale Invasion May Be Imminent
Though it has reportedly been extended until the end of the week, the failure to make the ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the US-backed Kurdish SDF permanent is expected to lead to more fighting. It is starting to look like the fight for northern Syria...
US Assures Syrian Kurdish SDF After Turkish FM Says Goal Is to Wipe Them Out
It has been a wild 72 hours for the Kurdish-dominated SDF forces in Syria’s northeast. After substantial fighting over the city of Manbij and a 4-day truce conditioned entirely on the SDF removing themselves and their families from the area, the relative stability in...
Report: US Gave Kurds an Ultimatum To Withdraw from Manbij in North Syria
The US had to give the Kurdish-led SDF an ultimatum to withdraw from the northern Syrian city of Manbij and cede it to the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), Al-Monitor reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the US brokered a ceasefire deal between...
US, Israel and Turkey Launch Airstrikes in Syria After Cheering Regime Change
Several nations have been loudly cheering the weekend regime change in Syria (some are even taking credit for it). But despite the Islamist faction they were backing ending up taking Damascus, neither the US, Turkey, nor Israel are actually stopping attacks on Syrian...
Al-Qaeda Linked Militants Advance, ‘Encircle Damascus’
On Thursday, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist militants captured the major city of Hama, just days after the fall of Aleppo. As some HTS forces entered the city, others continued south, circling the city en route to Homs and ultimately Damascus. HTS is a merger of...
Report: Syrian Islamists Court Israel With Talk of Peace Deal
Former Israeli military intelligence officer Lt. Mordechai Kedar has added fuel to claims that Israel has ties with the Syrian Islamist fighters who have taken the city of Aleppo and surrounding area in the past week. Lt. Kedar says he is in “constant contact” with...