After deals negotiated with both the United States and Russia which put an end to its offensive in Syria, Turkey has won a key demand: the removal of Kurdish fighters from along its border. But these deals, and the US's withdrawal from the zone, are also a huge boost for Russia, which is...

  (Eqtsad)- In the far north-east of Syria, on the border between Iraq and Turkey, where the Orient Express passed more than a decade ago, a small town called Maabadah is separated by a street from one of the most famous oil fields in Syria, Rmelan, and near it the Suwaidiyah fields....

The prospect that thousands of the world's most fanatic jihadists could break out in the chaos caused by Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria is causing widespread alarm. The Kurdish administration guarding those suspected members of the Islamic State group is crumbling and their fate...

After years of working towards autonomy, Syria's Kurds have been dropped by their US ally and forced to call in the Damascus regime to stem a six-day Turkish offensive. But as President Bashar al-Assad's forces deploy towards the northern border, is the Kurdish minority giving up on...

Russian military specialists are flying to Venezuela, Iran is increasing its drone threats to Saudi Arabia, and Turkey is blustering about a new military operation in eastern Syria. Across the Middle East and among U.S. global adversaries, there is a desire to test the Trump administration in...

Despite the defeat of the Islamic State, Washington justifies weaponizing and safeguarding the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which are the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Washington officials do this because they think that the Kurdish-dominated YPG would be an...

U.S. officials can use an emerging rift in Syria to push Turkey and Russia toward a divorce and renew U.S.-Turkish relations, said an analysis in conservative U.S. outlet The National Interest.  Turkish observation posts in and around Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province have in...

New weapons always have trouble, but especially when they weren't built with hotter climates in mind.  Russian missiles had problems operating in Syria. Why? Because parts of Syria are desert, and Russia lacked experience with designing weapons for such climates. That startling...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Director and the former Speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly, Najdah Ismail Anzour, has attributed the sectarian tone in his film "The Blood of Palm" to pure chance.  His justification was that the actor who played the role of a cowardly soldier was by chance...

The leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran have announced the formation of a committee to draft a new Syrian constitution as the first step in a political solution to Syria's eight-year conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday hosted his Russian and Iranian counterparts,...

It has now been eight years since the Syrian security service threatened to cut off my hand but the psychological impact of that day still remains. My story is similar to many others I meet who have escaped the combination of tyranny and terrorism in Syria to seek out a new and safer life...

By Mozn Murshid  (Zaman al-Wasl)- “Syria is no longer a country for the poor,” says the 50-year-old woman on the phone. “Our country has oppressed us so much, professor.” Her words hurt me. For so long we heard this proverb since childhood, wherever I went I heard "Syria is...

A Moscow-backed regime offensive in northwest Syria is undermining an arrangement by Russia and Turkey for the anti-government bastion, but their own interests should prevent a total falling-out, analysts say. Syrian government forces launched a ground offensive against the jihadist-run...

Five months after US-backed forces ousted Isis from its last shard of territory in Syria, the terrorist group is regaining strength, military and intelligence officers have warned. Isis is gathering new strength, conducting guerrilla attacks across Iraq and Syria, retooling its financial...

The other day I saw a report of an airstrike hitting a medical facility in Idlib, killing a paramedic and an ambulance driver. Not a legitimate military target, but a medical facility. Then, shortly after, an airstrike hit again. Charles Lister from the Middle East Institute described it as a...

Members of the al-Ali family were walking home from shopping when several shells slammed into the busy street on the western edges of the Syrian city of Aleppo. The blast tore through them, killing 2-year-old Salam and one of her cousins, and incinerated a car nearby with a woman and her infant...

After months of stalemate, Turkey and the United States have agreed to establish a joint operations center to coordinate efforts to carve out a safe zone stretching more than 250 miles along Syria’s northeastern border .with Turkey  Much of the region is controlled by the Syrian...

It seems somehow profane that, outside of the Near East, the Syrian ordeal is not heard of much anymore. Then again, it never really was. The course of events that reduced Syria to its present condition began in March 2011 when Syrians took their place in the great revolts sweeping Arab...

An enormous fire raged across several wheat fields outside this town on July 6. It was a dry summer day and dark smoke towered over the countryside as the flames spread across the farmland. Some locals watched in awe at the inferno. Others tried to fight back with shovels and rakes. They had...

I have no sympathy towards Shamima Begum for joining Isis. However, I do have serious concerns as to how our society allowed this to happen. And as speculation grows over whether she will now be prosecuted at home – despite government commitments to strip her of her citizenship – that is still...