Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press

  • Turkish-backed fighters prepare to go to the frontline in the Syrian province of Idlib, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020. (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)
    Turkey says it has retaliated after deadly Syrian shelling

    Turkey said it retaliated Monday after “intense” shelling by Syrian forces killed five of its soldiers and wounded five others in Syria’s northern Idlib province, a marked escalation a week after a similarly deadly clash between the two sides.

  • Syrian rebel drive toward the government positions near the village of Nerab, in Idlib province, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)
    Syrian army enters key town as Turkey beefs up its troops

    Syrian government troops entered a strategic town in the country’s last rebel stronghold Thursday after fierce clashes with opposition fighters, even as Turkey sent reinforcements seeking to curtail the offensive, Syrian state media reported.

  • This Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, photo, released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian army soldiers flash the victory sign as they stand on their tank in western rural Aleppo, Syria. Syrian government forces pressed in their offensive Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, closing in on a major rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Idlib and marching against insurgents west of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, state media and opposition activists said Tuesday. (SANA via AP)
    Syrian troops capture key town in rebel-held Idlib province

    Syrian government forces captured one of the largest and most strategic rebel-held towns in the country's northwest, the Syrian military and opposition activists said Wednesday.

  • Posters of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and deputy commander of Iran-backed militias Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, both killed in a U.S. strike earlier this month, hang on the walls Jan. 16, 2020, at the site where they were killed in Baghdad, Iraq. (Hadi Mizban/AP)
    ISIS tries to stage comeback amid rising US-Iran tensions

    The Islamic State group’s self-styled “caliphate” across parts of Iraq and Syria seemed largely defeated last year, with the loss of its territory, the killing of its founder in a U.S. raid and an unprecedented crackdown on its social media propaganda machine.

  • Turkey-backed Syrian fighters take over areas on the road between Tal Abyad and Kobane on Oct. 24, 2019, as Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria left several positions along the long border with Turkey, complying with a deal that sees Damascus, (Bakr Alkasem/AFP via Getty Images)
    Syrian government says Turkish-led forces attacked its troops

    Turkish forces and their allies attacked Syrian government troops in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing some of them, and they also clashed with Kurdish-led fighters, the state news agency in Damascus and a war monitoring group said.

  • Residents welcome Syrian soldiers shortly after they entered the northern town of Tal Tamr on Monday, Oct 14, 2019. (SANA via AP)
    Syrian army moves to confront Turkish forces as US withdraws

    The Syrian army's deployment near the Turkish border came hours after Syrian Kurdish forces previously allied with the U.S. said they had reached a deal with President Bashar Assad's government to help fend off Turkey's invasion, now in its sixth day.

  • Shortly after the Turkish operation inside Syria had started, local residents cheer and applaud as a convoy of Turkish forces vehicles is driven through the town of Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, at the border between Turkey and Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)
    Turkey begins offensive aimed at Kurdish fighters in Syria

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of the campaign, which followed an announcement Sunday by U.S. President Donald Trump that American troops would step aside in a shift in U.S. policy that essentially abandoned the Syrian Kurds. They were longtime U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State group.

  • Members of Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (former FSA) flash the V-sign as they drive back to Turkey after they went in for some time on inspection according to the Turkish police entourage in the same area at the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long threatened to send troops into northeastern Syria to clear the border region of Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers a serious security threat. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
    Kurds mobilize in Syria as Turkey poised for imminent attack

    Syrian Kurdish forces who are allied with the United States issued a "general mobilization" call on Wednesday in northeastern Syria, along the border with Turkey, as Ankara threatened an imminent invasion of the area.