Press
Showing 41-60 of 357 Items
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Can Damascus-Ankara face off in Syria flare up?
A week-old Turkish invasion of northeast Syria combined with a US withdrawal have redrawn the lines and left Russian-backed Syrian regime troops and Ankara’s forces standing f...
By Nicholas Heras
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Russia takes over key U.S. outposts in Syria, filling vacuum left by American withdrawal
Russian troops have occupied positions in Syria that just days ago had been U.S. outposts, filling the vacuum left when President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of Americ...
By Nicholas Heras
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Desperate Kurds See Only Enemies Around Them. A Special Report From Qamishli, Syria
It’s 9 P.M. and pitch black. On the M4 highway connecting the towns Tal Tamr and Qamishli, a checkpoint held by Kurdish forces is lit up like a Christmas tree. Cones on the as...
By Nicholas Heras
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Bewildering twists and turns around Trump’s Syria withdrawal decision
Only a week ago, a senior US official insisted that the Trump administration was not about to pull out troops from Syria. But that that was upended by US President Donald Tru...
By Nicholas Heras
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Pentagon to withdraw 1,000 troops from Syria within weeks, pulling back in fight against ISIS
The Pentagon will pull virtually all its troops from Syria over the next few weeks, reversing years of U.S. policy on fighting Islamic State terrorists in the Middle East, as ...
By Nicholas Heras
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Turkey says it can fight Islamic State. Its record is spotty.
Foreign recruits of Islamic State, eager to migrate to the territory the militant group had carved out in Iraq and Syria, would prepare their staples — a phone, a solar charge...
By Nicholas Heras
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Pullback Leaves Green Berets Feeling ‘Ashamed,’ and Kurdish Allies Describing ‘Betrayal’
American commandos were working alongside Kurdish forces at an outpost in eastern Syria last year when they were attacked by columns of Syrian government tanks and hundreds of...
By Nicholas Heras
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Exposed and under fire, Syria's Kurds may turn to Damascus
A US withdrawal from Syria's northern border this week has exposed Washington's Kurdish partners to a Turkish assault, creating conditions for a rapprochement with Damascus th...
By Nicholas Heras
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Turkey’s refugee plan met with widespread skepticism
In the face of widespread international criticism for his military foray into northern Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains defiant, standing by his pledge to return ...
By Nicholas Heras
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Syria Kurds battle Turkish invasion
Syria's Kurds battled to hold off a Turkish invasion on Thursday after air strikes and shelling launched a long-threatened operation that could reshape the country and trigger...
By Nicholas Heras
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Trump's abrupt withdrawal from Syria may allow ISIS to come back with a vengeance — using the group's time-tested strategy
US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would remove US troops from northeastern Syria, where as many as 12,000 ISIS fighters are being held by Kurdish-led Syrian Dem...
By Nicholas Heras
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Turkey unleashes offensive against Kurds in northern Syria
Turkey launched a long-threatened military operation in northeastern Syria Wednesday targeting a US-backed, Kurdish-led militia alliance, after a US decision to pull back from...
By Nicholas Heras
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Kurdish Officials Had No Advance Notice of Trump’s Syria Announcement
The political branch of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was blindsided by the Trump administration’s decision to hand over territory once occupied by ISIS fighters to Turke...
By Nicholas Heras
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Trump’s Gift to ISIS
This is the story of how the Islamic State could make its comeback. For weeks now, Iraq has been rocked by anti-government protests and violent crackdowns. Its prime minister...
By Nicholas Heras
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Trump shifts policy on Syria, ordering pullback of U.S. troops from border with Turkey
U.S. troops began pulling back from positions in Syria near its border with Turkey, following a policy shift by President Trump that caught many off guard, with the president ...
By Nicholas Heras
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With US Troop Pullout from Syria, What are the Options for Kurds?
With U.S. troops pulling out from the Syria-Turkey border following U.S. President Donald Trump's Sunday announcement, Kurdish officials and experts say that Syrian Kurdish fo...
By Nicholas Heras
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Turkey's Uphill Battle to Stay Relevant in Washington
Turkey is provoking a political civil war in Washington, DC. With Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan scrambling up the regional balance of power, U.S. officials don't kno...
By Nicholas Heras
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US warns Ankara, amid worry of Turkish incursion into northeast Syria
For the second straight day, on Friday, senior US Defense Department officials held discussions with their Turkish counterparts, amid US concerns that Ankara is preparing an a...
By Nicholas Heras
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US trains on transfer of operations out of Qatar
Washington’s test-transfer of US Air Force operations from Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar to Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina is part of a US effort to adjust to emerging thre...
By Nicholas Heras
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Forces in Syria’s Manbij kill ISIS suspect carrying bomb-making materials
A counter-terrorism unit from a local council in the northern Syrian city of Manbij killed a man in possession of bomb-making materials on Tuesday while he was attempting to e...
By Nicholas Heras