Syria and Turkey

How US Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack plays key role in creating a new Syria, Levant region - analysis

Barack plays a key role as US ambassador to Turkey, Special Envoy to Syria, and one of the key figures in American policy in the Levant, while also keeping constant dialogues with Gulf state actors.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack attends a press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, in Damascus, Syria September 16, 2025.
Members of the Kurdish forces hold a portrait of Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler which reads "Shame on the killers of innocents in the Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood" during a protest in the Kurdish-controlled northeastern city of Qamishli on January 13, 2026.

How Turkey’s dangerous course in the Middle East fuels massacres - opinion

Ankara has created, sustained, and directed a well-established network of Islamist proxies.

|ByVEYSI DAG
Armored personnel carriers stand outside a compound of the Syrian army's new 80th Division in northwest Syria, June 3, 2025.

Syrian army starts training in Turkey, while Ankara gains influence over Damascus gov't - analysis

Forty-nine Syrians have begun training in Turkey, as part of a new program that will allow Syrian troops to use Turkish military barracks and academies.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Shanty houses painted in primary colours are pictured crowding the deep gullies and steep cliffs in Altindag, a suburb on the slopes outside central Ankara.

Turkish charity shop worker allegedly sexually abusing Syrian refugees - BBC

The charity shop owner claimed it was physically impossible that he had committed sexual assault, as he only had one testicle and only four women had accused him.

|ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD

Turkey slammed for airstrike that killed three women in Syria

Turkey’s invasion and occupation of part of northern Syria has sowed chaos and instability, including fueling extremist groups and ethnic cleansing.

JUNE 25, 2020BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Women mourn the death of a man who was killed in a Turkish airstrikes in Sheladize in the north of Dohuk province, close to the Turkish border, Iraq June 22, 2020.

Turkey’s relation with Syrian proxies tainted by broken promises

Some observers were so impressed with Turkey’s intervention in Libya that they deemed it possible to use it to justify controversial outcome of Turkish involvement in the Syrian conflict.

JUNE 8, 2020ByAHMAD AL KHALED
A MEMBER of Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by Khalifa Haftar, points his gun at an image of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on a Turkish military armored vehicle, which the LNA said they confiscated during Tripoli clashes.

Three-year-old girl taught to laugh at bombs reaches safety in Turkey

Salwa and her father are reported to be in a refugee camp in Southern Turkey, joining the 3.7 million Syrian refugees now living in Turkey.

MARCH 5, 2020ByHANNAH HEPNER
Children sit in an auto rickshaw in Tal Abyad, one of the cities in which Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan plans to resettle Syrian refugees

Turkey not stopping Syrian refugees reaching Europe, US stands with Turkey

The US State Dept. said that the US stands by its "NATO ally Turkey".

FEBRUARY 28, 2020ByREUTERS
Syrian refugee kids play on a rubble of dismantled concrete huts at a makeshift Syrian refugee camp in the Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon

Turkish army retaliates against 'all known' Syrian government targets

"All known" Syrian government targets are under fire by Turkish air and land support units.

FEBRUARY 28, 2020ByREUTERS
Turkish army tanks manoeuver as Turkish Kurds watch over the Syrian town of Kobani

Car bomb near Syria-Turkey border kills two, wounds five

The Turkish Defense Ministry has blamed the Kurdish YPG militia for the attack.

FEBRUARY 17, 2020ByREUTERS
Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) run from ISIS gunmen in Raqqa, Syria, July 3, 2017.

Turkey considering ‘mission accomplished’ in Syria - experts

Turkish and Syrian intelligence chiefs reportedly discussed a ceasefire in rebel-held Idlib and the status of eastern-based Kurdish forces.

JANUARY 17, 2020ByKRISTINA JOVANOVSKI / THE MEDIA LINE
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black sea resort of Sochi, Russia, 22 October 2019

Turkey’s changing story on Syria: From self-defense to long-term control

Turkey’s narrative is slowly changing on its expanding role in northern Syria.

DECEMBER 8, 2019BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
TURKEY-BACKED Syrian rebel fighter gestures to the camera at the border town of Tel Abyad, Syria, Monday.

Explaining interests in eastern Syria

The Turkish military is more than capable of defending its borders without invading Syria. Its fully modern military is the second largest in NATO, and fourth in terms of firepower.

NOVEMBER 10, 2019ByJEREMIAH ROZMAN
AN AERIAL view of the house Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding in.

The US disconnect in Syria

As outlined at the UN General Assembly, Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s plan is to resettle two million Syrian refugees in this “safe zone” at a cost of $53 billion.

NOVEMBER 7, 2019ByROBERT ELLIS
TURKISH MILITARY vehicles are seen on the Turkish-Syrian border before a joint Turkish-Russian patrol in northeast Syria, near the Turkish town of Kiziltepe.