Can Brad Pitt save Turkey’s tourism industry?

Turkey is looking to Hollywood for support as its tourism industry struggles to rebound from terrorism, last year's coup and a decline in tourist spending.

Turkey

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

Iranian painter's mouthless women speak volumes at Istanbul exhibition

Maryam Salahi, an Iranian artist living in Turkey, taps into her "foreignness" for an exhibition in Istanbul exploring identity and freedom in the Middle East.

Turkey

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

Muslim Brotherhood crumbling around Erdogan

As many Turks openly say the president's party has lost its mojo, it really means Muslim Brotherhood networks are collapsing there; the reasons also help explain the rise and potential fall of the cult of Erdogan.

Turkey