U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made an important announcement when he said that Washington is developing a plan to pursue Hezbollah’s disarmament by building up trusted units within the Lebanese...
Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa met with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi in Damascus on April 16. The meeting came two and a half months after an agreement between...
Masoud Barzani’s February 6 meeting with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi spotlights a decade of U.S. partnering that helped defeat ISIS in eastern Syria, but never produced a political endgame. After holding territory east of the Euphrates, the SDF suffered setbacks in mid-January clashes and then reached a January 30 understanding that allows Damascus to expand security control in remaining SDF areas. Some fighters could be absorbed into Syria’s army, while U.S. forces weigh next steps for ISIS detainee operations and their remaining footprint.
Syria has experienced another dramatic transformation. After a month of clashes that began in Aleppo and spread to eastern Syria, Damascus announced on January 30 that it had reached an agreement with...
“Our Kurdish people, descendants of Saladin, beware of believing claims that we seek harm against you,” Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said in a televised address on January 16 to Syria’s...
The ongoing conflict between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) risks unleashing tens of thousands of ISIS-linked detainees, reviving a threat that the United States and the SDF...
Erdogan Accuses Israel of Seeking ‘Fragmentation’ of Syria: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled Israel the “primary obstacle” to a stable Syria on December 16,...
If the agreement collapses, violence may be imminent. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have spent months negotiating with the government in Damascus how to implement their March agreement...
Syrian Kurdish military leader Mazloum Abdi’s recent meeting with top Kurdish officials of northern Iraq points to the region’s shifting political landscape. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander...
On November 19, the government-controlled Syrian army and the predominantly Kurdish, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) battled in the area of Maadan, east of Raqqa. According to Syrian...
On October 26, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said it was withdrawing its fighters from Turkey. The withdrawal is part of a peace process that has seen the group say it will disarm...
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) based in eastern Syria are taking steps to integrate into the security forces led by the Syrian transitional government in Damascus. “The Syrian government...
2015 marked a change in the Syria policy of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He began to walk back his initial goal of toppling the Asad regime and turned towards Syria’s surging Kurdish forces....
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian forces traded rocket artillery fire near Deir Hafir, east of Aleppo, on September 10. While no military personnel were killed, two civilians died and...
Ahmed al-Shara’s attempts to concentrate power and spurn Syria’s minorities are destabilizing the country.
Several Sunni Arab tribes in northeastern Syria, an area that encompasses 30 percent of Syrian territory and is currently under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), have called...
On August 13, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that Turkish Minister of Defense Yasar Guler and Syrian Minister of Defense Murhaf Abu Qusra signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)...
Erdoğan is arguably negotiating with the Kurds mainly as a means of securing Kurdish parliamentarians’ votes to extend his rule as president
On February 27, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan called for the group to disarm and end its conflict with Turkey, according to a message he released from prison.
Turkey intends to position itself as the most influential foreign actor in Syria. Following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey built close ties with jihadist militias fighting Bashar...