Press
Showing 161-180 of 453 Items
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The U.S. Has Put Itself in an Impossible Situation in Syria
After years of battle, the U.S. is on the cusp of defeating ISIS in Syria, but the tactics it’s used to do so have left the military in a strategic hole of epic proportions. C...
By Ilan Goldenberg & Nicholas Heras
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Will Turkey attack Manbij?
Operation Olive Branch, the military operation against the Kurd-administered enclave of Efrin in northern Syria launched by Turkey on Saturday has sparked fears that a new pha...
By Nicholas Heras
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Turkey’s Afrin assault complicates conflict
BEIRUT: Turkey’s assault against Kurdish forces in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin has further complicated the bloody and complex war raging in Syria since 2011. Syrian r...
By Nicholas Heras
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Experts: Turkey’s Syrian Offensive Risks Direct Confrontation with U.S.
Turkey's ground assault against an American-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria threatens a further deterioration in relations with the United States, a key NATO partner,...
By Nicholas Heras
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"The stakes are very high": Turkey's attack in Syria risks conflict with USh
The US is facing yet another major diplomatic challenge in the Middle East, after its NATO partner Turkey's decision to attack US-backed forces in Syria. Turkish ground forces...
By Nicholas Heras
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Turkish troops cross Syrian border near Afrin
Turkish troops crossed into northern Syria today, a day after Turkish air force jets pounded Kurdish targets in the Afrin region in a move that will further inflame the nearly...
By Nicholas Heras
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Tillerson calls Iran a ‘strategic threat’ in Syria, vowing to diminish its presence
Undercutting Iran’s influence in Syria has emerged as a central goal for the Trump administration as it laid out its new political and military strategy for the ongoing confli...
By Nicholas Heras
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America Quietly Starts Nation-Building in Parts of Syria
Announcing his new Afghanistan strategy in August, President Donald Trump insisted “we are not nation-building again.” The pledge—made while increasing indefinitely the Americ...
By Nicholas Heras
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Turkish president threatens to ‘drown’ U.S.-backed force in Syria
BEIRUT — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted in anger Monday to a proposed U.S.-trained force that could lead to Kurdish militiamen being stationed on the Syrian s...
By Nicholas Heras
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In the wake of ISIL defeat, US-led coalition looks to transform its mission
With ISIL all but vanquished from its self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria, the US-led coalition is transforming its mission. Eager to avoid a repeat of 2011, when Amer...
By Nicholas Heras
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Civilian victims of U.S. coalition airstrike in Iraq dig up graves in desperate bid for compensation
When Ali Thanoon lost more than 50 members of his family in a U.S. airstrike during the battle against Islamic State in Mosul in the spring, he turned to the Iraqi government ...
By Chris Kolenda
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With ISIS in tatters, Syria Kurds fear US to abandon them
Syria's Kurds fear the steadfast ally they found in the US to successfully take on Islamic State group jihadists may now leave them to face threats from Turkey and Damascus al...
By Nicholas Heras
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Did ISIS kill Iraqis with weapons the US gave to Syrian fighters?
Weapons and ammunition the United States seemingly provided to Syrian fighters were captured by ISIS and turned against America’s own partners in Iraq, including at the bloodi...
By Nicholas Heras
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Putin boasts about 'defeated ISIS' in Syria as he discloses 'significant' troop withdrawal
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed the defeat of ISIS terrorists in Syria during a visit to the war-torn country and also announced plans to withdraw a "signifi...
By Nicholas Heras
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Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ has been toppled in Iraq and Syria. Why isn’t anyone celebrating?
BAGHDAD — Every day for more than three years, the U.S.-led coalition bombed Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, for a total of nearly 30,000 strikes. But on Nov. 26, not...
By Nicholas Heras
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Trump’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment
After major losses in Syria and Iraq, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) is seen as a diminishing threat — and President Donald Trump has declared the armed group defeat...
By Nicholas Heras
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Has Trump Ditched the Kurdish Fighters Who Defeated ISIS? Maybe Not.
ERBIL, Iraq—After U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, talked on the phone last Friday, Erdogan’s foreign minister announced the Amer...
By Nicholas Heras
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U.S. moves toward open-ended presence in Syria after Islamic State is routed
The Trump administration is expanding its goals in Syria beyond routing the Islamic State to include a political settlement of the country’s civil war, a daunting and potentia...
By Nicholas Heras
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Trump cedes Syrian postwar planning to Putin
WASHINGTON — Six months after President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike against a Syrian government airbase, an act his aides said would give the U.S. renewed leverage acros...
By Ilan Goldenberg
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US-backed Forces Deny They Allowed IS Fighters to Evacuate Raqqa
Officials of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are dismissing claims they brokered a covert deal with the Islamic State last month to allow safe passage to hundre...
By Nicholas Heras