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Biden and Erdogan to meet at a tense moment for Turkish-US ties
The list of disagreements is unusually long for the two NATO allies: There's U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, as well as Turkey’s purchase of a Russian weapons system.
Syrian government says Turkish-led forces attacked its troops
Turkish forces and their allies attacked Syrian government troops in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing some of them, and they also clashed with Kurdish-led fighters, the state news agency in Damascus and a war monitoring group said.
US military struggles to find a strategy amid sudden policy changes in CENTCOM region
The future of the five-year fight against Islamic State militants is unclear, along with the entire strategy underpinning the U.S. troop presence in the U.S. Central Command region.
High stakes for Putin, Erdogan summit on northeast Syria
Turkey’s president is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in talks crucial to the outcome of Turkey’s latest incursion into northern Syria , and to the broader Syrian war.
Silent protest? Withdrawing US soldier seen wearing previously banned Kurdish militia patch
It’s common for U.S. special operators to don patches of partner forces. But in 2016, American military commanders banned the wear of YPG and YPJ patches after Turkey became outraged following the circulation of photos of American commandos brandishing the patches.
By Shawn Snow
US military convoy withdrawing from Syria pelted with garbage by angry residents
Departing U.S. troops from Syria just cross the border into Iraq Monday.
By Shawn Snow
Kurds begin evacuation from besieged Syrian town amid reports of cease-fire violations on both sides
Kurdish-led fighters and Turkish-backed forces clashed sporadically Sunday in northeastern Syria amid efforts to work out a Kurdish evacuation from a besieged border town, the first pull-back under the terms of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire. Turkey said one of its soldiers was killed in the day’s violence.
Pentagon chief says American troops leaving Syria will conduct anti-ISIS operations from Iraq
While President Donald Trump insists he’s bringing home Americans from “endless wars” in the Mideast, his Pentagon chief says all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will continue operations against the Islamic State group.
By Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press
What it means for American bases in Syria to be occupied by Syrian and Russian forces
As U.S. forces make a grab for the exit in a hurry, reports and video coming in suggest U.S. troops are dumping equipment and leaving bases in tact while stripping sensitive items.
By Shawn Snow
Fearing American abandonment, Kurds kept back channels to Damascus, Moscow wide open
When Syria’s Kurdish fighters, America’s longtime battlefield allies against the Islamic State, announced over the weekend that they were switching sides and joining up with Damascus and Moscow, it seemed like a moment of geopolitical whiplash.
US special operations secrets could fall into hands of Russians and Syrians in pullout
A former U.S. military intelligence operator who spent years working with special operations forces told Military Times that the potential spillover of sensitive tradecraft or information by the SDF was “super problematic," but also a symptom of the lack of a genuine strategy in the region.
By Shawn Snow