The US will work with allies to “expel every last Iranian boot” from Syria, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says. Mr Pompeo warned there would be no US reconstruction aid for areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad until Iran and its proxies had left. He also criticised ex-President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy, saying […]

Turkey’s president has strongly rejected US calls for his country to protect Kurdish fighters in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said such statements made by US National Security Adviser John Bolton at the weekend were “unacceptable”. Mr Bolton was in Ankara to seek guarantees that a Kurdish militia battling the Islamic State group would be […]

A top Republican has said US President Donald Trump remains committed to defeating Islamic State (IS) in Syria, despite his plan to withdraw US troops. Senator Lindsey Graham suggested the withdrawal had been slowed and he was now reassured of the president’s commitment after meeting him on Sunday. Mr Trump’s troop pullout plan met strong […]

A top US official in the fight against the Islamic State group has quit over President Trump’s decision to pull troops from Syria, reports say. Brett McGurk, the US special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat IS, brought his departure forward from February. Before Mr Trump’s announcement he had insisted that the US […]

The Trump administration says US troops are being withdrawn from Syria, after the president said the Islamic State (IS) group had been “defeated”. The Pentagon said it was transitioning to the “next phase of the campaign” but did not give details. Some 2,000 troops have helped rid much of north-eastern Syria of IS, but pockets […]

Russia is to send new anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, a week after Syrian forces accidentally shot down a Russian aircraft during an Israeli air strike. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the S-300 surface-to-air missile defence system would be delivered within two weeks. Fifteen Russian military personnel were killed when the reconnaissance aeroplane was […]