Turkey said on Tuesday it had completed preparations for a military operation in northeast Syria after the United States began pulling back troops, opening the way for a Turkish attack on Kurdish-led forces long allied to Washington.

All preparations for Syria operations completed, says Turkey

Iran's top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in a phone call that Tehran is opposed to military action in Syria, the foreign ministry said.

Iran opposes Syria military action, Javad Zarif tells Turkey

As Turkey, United States spar over Syrian operation, Kurdish forces feel vulnerable

The United States and Turkey on Sunday began joint patrols in northeastern Syria aimed at easing tensions between Ankara and US-backed Kurdish forces. Six Turkish armoured vehicles crossed the border to join US troops in Syria for their first joint patrol under a deal reached between Washington and Ankara, an AFP journalist reported.

US, Turkey launch joint patrols in northeast Syria

Clashes between regime loyalists and insurgents in northwest Syria killed 70 combatants on Saturday, as government forces continued to nibble away at territory held by its opponents, a war monitor said.

Clashes kill 70 combatants in northwest Syria: Report

A munitions blast killed 31 regime and allied fighters at a military airport in central Syria on Saturday, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and relies on a network of sources on the ground, said it was unclear what had caused the deadly explosion at the Shayrat airbase in Homs province.

Blast kills 31 regime fighters at Syria airbase: Report

Clashes between pro-government forces and jihadist-led groups that control Syria's northwest killed at least 45 combatants on Tuesday, a war monitor said. The fighting flared on the edge of Hama province when jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a dawn attack on regime positions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syria clashes kill 45 fighters, says war monitor

The Idlib region of some three million people has suffered increased regime and Russian air strikes in recent weeks, with hundreds of civilians killed since late April. To keep up, civil defence workers known as the White Helmets are digging graves in advance, to ensure funerals are swift and the few who attend are not killed at the cemetery.

Hounded by war planes, Syrians dig Idlib graves in advance

US President Donald Trump on Sunday told Syria and Russia to stop "bombing the hell" out of Syria's last jihadist stronghold Idlib. "Hearing word that Russia, Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran, are bombing the hell out of Idlib Province in Syria, and indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians.

'STOP!' bombing, killing in Syria's Idlib: US President Donald Trump

Damascus said it had been informed Iraqi flights to Syria would not resume as planned Saturday after more than seven years, over what it said were "administrative" reasons.

Return of Iraq-Syria flights postponed: Damascus

Britain on Friday challenged Russia and Syria to provide assurances to the UN Security Council that attacks on hospitals and schools in northwest Syria will stop.

Britain at UN presses Russia to answer for Idlib hospital attacks

Iraq's national carrier is to resume flights to the capital of neighbouring Syria for the first time since the war there erupted in 2011, a spokesman said Thursday.

Iraqi Airways to resume flights to Syria after 8-year break

Britain and New Zealand are failing on children's rights, scoring lower than war-torn Syria and North Korea relative to their wealth in rankings released Tuesday by a children's group.

Britain, New Zealand scores lower than Syria and North Korea on children's rights rankings

The head of Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate in a video released Sunday urged supporters to "take up weapons" to defend his group's bastion of Idlib against increased bombardment.

Jihadist chief Jolani calls for arming to defend Syria's Idlib: Video

At least nine civilians, including two children, were killed Saturday in air strikes by Syria's government and its ally Russia in the northwest of the country, a war monitor said.

Nine killed by regime, Russian strikes in Syria's Idlib: War monitor

More than 7,000 people have left a desperate desert camp for displaced Syrians near the Jordanian border since March, a United Nations spokesperson said Friday. According to the UN's humanitarian coordination office OCHA, around 36,000 people remained in the isolated Rukban camp near Al-Tanf base used by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, after over 4,000 left between March and April 21.

More than 7,000 Syrians quit camp near Jordan border: United Nations

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he did not rule out Syrian forces, backed by Russian air power, launching a full-scale assault on militants in Syria's Idlib province, but that such an operation was unpractical for now.

Russia and Syria are not planning assault on Idlib for now: Vladimir Putin

US-backed forces said they had captured Islamic State's last shred of territory in eastern Syria at Baghouz on Saturday, ending its territorial rule over a self-proclaimed caliphate after years of fighting.

Islamic State defeated, 'caliphate' eliminated, says US ally in Syria

The rise and fall of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

The Islamic State may have lost its self-styled caliphate, but its barbaric back catalogue of grisly execution videos will continue to haunt the global imagination and serve as a template for how to sow terror, analysts say.

Islamic State: Pioneers of the 'digital caliphate'

US-backed Syrian forces were sweeping on Thursday through the final enclave that had been held by Islamic State fighters and said they would declare the group defeated once a search for hidden mines and jihadist holdouts was complete.

Victory over Islamic State to be announced after enclave searched: SDF

A US-backed force in Syria said Tuesday it has arrested jihadists suspected of involvement in the deadliest attack on US troops since they deployed in the war-torn country in 2014.

Syria force says it arrested jihadists behind attack on US troops

US-backed fighters have been hoping for weeks that the final day has come for the Islamic State group's "caliphate", but its last tiny sliver of land just won't seem to empty.

'Never-ending' numbers in last Islamic State scrap shock US-backed fighters

More than 20 civilians were killed Sunday in central Syria when a landmine left behind by jihadists exploded under a van, the state news agency SANA said. The ordnance left behind by the Islamic State group in the town of Salamiyeh killed farmworkers who were heading to a region in the Hama province to pick truffles, SANA said, citing local police.

Mine blast kills more than 20 civilians in Syria

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