In the space of two days, the Syrian military, aided by tribal militia, has driven Kurdish forces from wide swaths of northern Syria that they have held for more than a decade. Among the towns and cities that the Syrian army has taken is Raqqa,

The government’s move to assert control over areas under Kurdish rule is a major test for President Ahmed al-Sharaa as fresh clashes erupted.

The Syrian military claims guards from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces abandoned a camp in northeast Syria, allowing detainees linked to the Islamic State to escape.

The head of the Syrian Petroleum Company, Youssef Qeblawi, said on Monday that oil major Shell had asked to withdraw from the al-Omar oilfield and transfer its share to Syria's state-owned operators but that U.

Arab tribes that had fought alongside the SDF for years suddenly turned on a dime, and the SDF was squeezed back into a handful of Kurdish cities. On Tuesday, the two sides agreed to a four-day ceasefire in order to negotiate the next steps.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, conducted the strike on Jan. 16, killing Bilal Hasan al-Jasim, authorities said.

Syrian government troops tightened their grip on Monday across a swathe of northern and eastern territory abruptly abandoned the previous day by Kurdish forces, in a dramatic shift that consolidated President Ahmed al-Sharaa's rule.

U.S. forces killed an al Qaeda-affiliated leader allegedly linked to an ISIS attack that killed three Americans in Syria, as CENTCOM launched counterterrorism operations Jan. 16.

Undoubtedly, some in Washington believe the Trump administration should have stood up for the Kurds more strongly than it did.