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Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., said that President Trump's Wednesday announcement of a "permanent ceasefire" between Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is an "extraordinary breakthrough." Speaking at the White House, the president said that the conditions had been met by both sides and that the U.S. is lifting sanctions on Ankara that were implemented following the invasion of northern Syria. "I do believe it will be permanent," he said. "This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else...we've done something very, very special."

President Trump announced on Wednesday that conditions have been met between Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for what he called a " permanent ceasefire" between the two sides and that the United States is lifting sanctions on Ankara that were implemented following the invasion of northern Syria. Speaking at the White House, Trump said that while a "permanent ceasefire" will be tough to maintain in the volatile region, he hopes that it will last and end the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds. "I do believe it will be permanent," he said. "This was an outcome created...

Russia has stationed troops between the Syrian army and Turkish forces in an attempt to prevent fresh clashes in northern Syria. Moscow said its soldiers are now patrolling land outside the flashpoint city of Manbij, which was taken over by Syrian government forces on Tuesday, to prevent an anticipated Turkish attack. Russia, which backs the Syrian government, said 'no one is interested' in fighting between Syrian government troops and Turkish forces and that Moscow 'is not going to allow it.'

President Trump said Wednesday that Turkey’s offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria is “not our problem,” defending his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region amid criticism. "If Turkey goes into Syria, it is between Turkey and Syria. It’s not our problem,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Trump also downplayed the U.S. alliance with the Kurds, calling them “no angels” and saying the U.S. “paid a lot of money” for the Syrian Kurdish forces to fight alongside U.S. troops against ISIS. Trump’s remarks came as a U.S....

Earlier today, the President told @SkyNews that he won’t receive a U.S. delegation that is visiting Ankara today. He does plan to meet the U.S. delegation led by @VP tomorrow — as confirmed in the below statement to the Turkish press.

If our NATO partner and ally by treaty Turkey is conducting genocide and war crimes against the Kurds, then perhaps we should call on all our NATO partners and allies to condemn Turkey? We are currently committed by treaty to defend TURKEY, NOT the Kurds. We could tear up the treaties with Turkey and NATO and then enter into a mutual defense treaty with Kurdistan, but then what will Russia and Iran do? Oh, wait, there is no country named Kurdistan. This is the way world wars are started.

The Kurds in Syria say the Syrian government has agreed to send its army to the northern border to try to halt Turkey's offensive against them. Syrian state media earlier reported that government forces had been deployed to the north. It follows the US decision to pull all its remaining troops from the area... (Turkey said) It also plans to resettle more than three million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey within the zone. Many of them are not Kurds. Critics have warned this could lead to ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish population. (Just as Turkey did after it took...

Qamishli (Syria) (AFP) – Syria’s Kurds on Sunday announced a groundbreaking deal with Damascus on a Syrian troop deployment near the border with Turkey, as Ankara pressed a deadly cross-border offensive that has sparked an international outcry. The announcement came as the United States ordered the withdrawal of almost its entire ground force in Syria. Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the move to withdraw 1,000 US troops came after Washington learned that Turkey was pressing further into Syria than had been expected. Turkey’s relentless assault, which has seen air strikes, shelling and a ground incursion manned mainly by Syrian proxy...

<p>Newsweek has learned through both an Iraqi Kurdish intelligence official and senior Pentagon official that Special Forces operating on Mashtenour hill in the majority-Kurdish city of Kobani fell under artillery fire from Turkish forces conducting their so-called "Operation Peace Spring" against Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S. but considered terrorist organizations by Turkey.</p>

Turkey's Syria invasion: Member of US Special Forces says, 'I am ashamed for the first time in my career' A member of U.S. Special Forces serving alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria told Fox News' Jennifer Griffin on Wednesday they were witnessing Turkish atrocities on the frontlines. “I am ashamed for the first time in my career,” said the distraught soldier, who has been involved in the training of indigenous forces on multiple continents. The service member, whom Griffin described as "hardened," is among the 1,000 or so U.S. troops who remain in Syria. “Turkey is not...

Turkish warplanes have bombed parts of north-eastern Syria at the start of an offensive which could lead to conflict with Kurdish-led allies of the US. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation was to create a "safe zone" cleared of Kurdish militias which will also house Syrian refugees. The strikes have killed at least two civilians, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. The group vowed to resist any Turkish advance across the border. It asked the US and the coalition against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) to establish a no-fly zone in the area to stop "attacks on...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday the beginning of a military operation in northeastern Syria, days after President Donald Trump pulled U.S. troops out of the region. "The Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Syrian National Army, just launched #OperationPeaceSpring," Erdogan wrote Wednesday in a tweet. "Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area." Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said Turkish warplanes started carrying out airstrikes on civilian targets Wednesday. "There is a huge panic among people of the...

Turkey is set to invade Syria, as the country had been threatening in recent months, with the U.S. saying it will remove all of its forces from the "immediate area," according to the White House. The news came late Sunday after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone earlier in the day.

Turkey’s latest intervention in the Syria conflict appears to reflect a 180-degree shift in its policy of backing Al Qaeda-linked takfiris and a range of largely fundamentalist insurgents, as well as the Saudi-sponsored Syrian opposition with the aim of bringing down President Bashar Assad. Last weekend, Turkish tanks, armoured vehicles and troops gathered in the western sector of the border between Turkey and Syria and exchanged fire with Al Qaeda’s Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham, a coalition headed by Jabhat Fatah Al Sham (formerly Jabhat Al Nusra). Ankara is deploying Syrian insurgents belonging to the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), allegedly,...

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's statement that his forces in Syria were there to topple President Bashar al-Assad had come as a surprise to Moscow and that it expected an explanation from Ankara. In a speech on Tuesday, Erdogan said: "We are there to bring justice. We are there to end the rule of the cruel Assad, who has been spreading state terror," Erdogan said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call: "It is a very serious statement and one which differs from previous ones [...] We hope that our Turkish partners...

urkish tanks and other vehicles have rolled across the Syrian border after heavy shelling of an area held by so-called Islamic State (IS). Military sources told Turkish media 70 targets in the Jarablus area had been destroyed by artillery and rocket strikes, and 12 by air strikes. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels who are following the advance say they have entered the town of Jarablus itself. The operation is aimed against both IS and Kurdish fighters. Turkey shelled Syrian Kurdish forces in the region this week, determined not to let them fill the vacuum if IS leaves. US Vice-President Joe Biden warned...

Reuters is reporting that Turkey is asking the United States and other western allies to participate in a massive ground invasion of Syria. But of course the Turks are not exactly sitting around and waiting for their western allies to get on board. Turkey shelled northern Syria for a fourth consecutive day on Tuesday, even though the Obama administration has been asking them to stop. The targets were Kurdish and Syrian military positions, and the goal appears to be to slow down their advance toward the Turkish border. The Sunni militants that Turkey has been supporting for five years are...

As you can see, Turkey has begun shelling Aleppo in what is indeed a very serious escalation that will likely prompt a Russian response. "Shelling was reported at Menagh air base, a former Syrian Air Force facility that Kurds seized from Islamist rebels just days ago, and at three other positions between the airport and Turkish border," The Independent reports. "The air base has been a key target for several parties in the Syrian civil war since 2012, being besieged by rebels for almost a year until it was seized by a coalition including an early form of Isis and...

(AGI) Ankara, Nov 11 - The Turkish government is preparing to send 10,700 soldiers to Syria in mid-December to fight ISIS and create safe areas for displaced people in the north of the country, reported pro-government daily Yeni Safak. The newspaper said that Ankara will present a document analysing the situation in Syria and will include a request for funds to the great powers at the G20 summit in Antalya over the weekend. Ankara's aim would be to reverse the course of the military campaign against the jihadists and the migrant crisis. The plan provides for the entry of troops...

NATO said it had drawn up plans to defend Turkey if necessary should the war in Syria spill over their border again as dozens of people were killed across the Arab nation on Tuesday. Fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces could be heard from this Turkish border town following on from several days of clashes in the past week. One Syrian villager said a rebel push on the town of Azmarin was expected soon. In Damascus, rebel suicide bombers struck at an Air Force Intelligence compound used as an interrogation centre - the latest attack to bring the conflict...