GCC's silence on Turkey’s Afrin adventure is telling

The Sunni Gulf states have failed to make a unified statement on Turkey's Operation Olive Branch in Syria, a sign of their competing interests.

Legacy: Gulf

Russia’s role in Turkish incursion into Syria is tricky

Turkey’s ironically named Operation Olive Branch, its latest quest to crush the Kurds on its border, will likely affect Moscow’s carefully engineered Syrian peace process.

Syria

Most Turks welcome army’s incursion into Kurdish-controlled northern Syria

Many Turks are rallying behind the military operation launched over the weekend to undo the Syrian Kurds’ advances across the border, while activists accuse the government of criminalizing dissent.

Syria

Turkey, Russia wage proxy war against Washington in Syria

Syrian Kurds say Russia gave Turkey the green light for the Afrin operation after the Kurds refused to cede Afrin to the Syrian regime; can Turkey turn the situation to its long-term advantage?

Syria

What's Hamas up to in Lebanon?

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau, is busy reinforcing the movement's presence in Lebanon and mending ties with Hezbollah.

Palestine

Both sides forced to up casualty estimates as Afrin battles rage

The official body counts are rising as Turkey's Operation Olive Branch continues in Afrin, with at least 24 civilians dead so far and both sides exaggerating losses inflicted on the other.

Syria

Islamic State desert bases still headache for Iraq

As Iraqi forces continue cleansing the western desert to keep the Syrian-Iraqi border region calm, Islamic State counterattacks in Syria are posing a new risk across the border.

Iraq

Erdogan scores big with Afrin operation, but problems remain

Military experts say taking Afrin will be a tactical success for Ankara, but Turkey’s Kurdish concerns in Syria appear to be far from over.

Syria

Conflicting reports emerge as Turkey's Olive Branch rakes Afrin

In the chaos of Turkey's offensive in Afrin, Syria, both the Turks and Syrian Kurdish militants continue to claim the upper hand and dismiss each other's casualty reports as propaganda.

Syria

Syrian stakeholders woo tribes to influence country's future

After the defeat of IS in Raqqa, the still-warring Syrian regime and opposition forces as well as outside interested parties are trying to win over Syrian tribes to their sides to guarantee their roles in determining Syria's direction.

Syria

Turkish troops cross Syrian border near Afrin

Turkey, after bombing Afrin, moves troops across the Syrian border near the Kurdish-controlled area.

Syria

Turkey upends US Syria strategy with attack on YPG

Ankara seeks green light from Moscow, not Washington, in attack on US partner; UN warns of consequences of continued fighting in Eastern Ghouta and Idlib; local council in Aleppo confiscates land of Islamic State families.

Syria