The men receive a hero's welcome as they step off the green buses in Syria's Idlib province with guns slung over their shoulders, having been forced to leave besieged and bombarded towns and cities as part of local truce deals with the government in Damascus. For more than two years...

(New York Times)- A joint Kurdish-Arab militia has begun a new phase in the operation to dislodge the Islamic State from its stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, moving to isolate the city and largely cut off the resupply of arms, supplies and fighters, a United States military spokesman in Baghdad...

Washington is in "close contact" with Ankara over the assault launched by American-backed Kurdish-Arab forces on the Islamic State group's bastion Raqa in Syria, a senior US official said Sunday. "We are in close close contact with our Turkish allies and that is why the chairman of joint...

(BBC)- A US-backed Kurdish and Arab force says it has begun an operation to capture Raqqa, so-called Islamic State's "capital" in Syria. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) will be aided by US-led coalition air strikes. They have warned civilians to steer clear of areas where IS militants are...