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

Erdogan says Turkey will launch Syria land operation when convenient

Turkey plans to take action on Syria when it would be in its best interest to move forward.

NOVEMBER 23, 2022ByREUTERS
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets people during the opening ceremony of Eurasia Tunnel in Istanbul, Turkey, December 20, 2016.

Fear reigns in northeast Syria as Turkey threatens invasion - interview

David Eubank, founder of the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a Christian multi-ethnic humanitarian movement, has documented the destruction wrought by the airstrikes and reported on the ground.

NOVEMBER 23, 2022BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
The aftermath of airstrikes in eastern Syria.

Turkish airstrikes target Kurdish militants in Syria, Iraq after bombing

Attack in Istanbul on Nov. 13 killed six people • Ankara has blamed Kurdish militants for the blast

NOVEMBER 20, 2022ByREUTERS
Smoke rises over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as seen from the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, October 18, 2014.

Inter-rebel clashes resume in northwest Syria after collapse of truce

Intense fighting raged near rugged terrain around Kafr Jana village in northern Aleppo where both sides sent reinforcements.

OCTOBER 17, 2022ByREUTERS
Demonstrators hold a Syrian opposition flag during a protest against Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's comments on reconciliation of the opposition with the Syrian government, in the rebel-held city of Azaz, Syria August 12, 2022.

Turkey’s policy in Syria at crossroads: Extremist HTS terror group takes over Afrin

Turkey's leaders are taking a second look at their policy in Syria as new terror organizations seize control of different regions.

OCTOBER 15, 2022BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
A rebel fighter takes away a flag that belonged to Islamic State militants in Akhtarin village, after rebel fighters advanced in the area, in northern Aleppo Governorate, Syria, October 7, 2016

With a Russian nudge, Turkey and Syria step up contacts

The contacts reflect a Russian policy shift as Moscow steels itself for a protracted conflict in Ukraine and seeks to secure its position in Syria.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022ByREUTERS
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan are seen before a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, August 24, 2018.

Talk of Ankara-Damascus detente driven mostly by domestic politics

‘Politics in the post Arab Spring and post 9/11 [eras] has changed to become much more fragmented and transactional. … No country means [what it says] in absolute terms.’

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022ByMOHAMMAD AL-KASSIM/THE MEDIA LINE
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan waves as he attends a debate marking the reconvene of the parliament after a summer recess at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, October 1, 2014.

Behind Turkey's ever-changing ties: Will Turkey invade Syria again?

Analysts see Erdogan as a Muslim Brotherhood true believer who can, at best, move closer to the West only on temporary shared interests.

AUGUST 24, 2022By ERIC R. MANDEL
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pose for a photo on July 19 before a Tehran meeting of leaders from the three guarantor states of the Astana process, designed to find a peace settlement in Syria.

Turkey's Erdogan softening Syria rhetoric with eye toward upcoming election

A faltering economy has forced Ankara to improve relations with other countries.

AUGUST 23, 2022ByKRISTINA JOVANOVSKI/THE MEDIA LINE
TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of his ruling AK Party during a meeting at the parliament, last month.

Three Syrian soldiers killed, six wounded in Turkish airstrike

Turkey has carried out numerous military operations in northern Syria since 2016, mainly targeting the Kurdish YPG militia.

AUGUST 16, 2022ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF, REUTERS
A motorbike burns after an airstrike in this screen grab taken from a social media video said to be taken in Idlib, Syria on July 16, 2019