Lefteris Pitarakis, The Associated Press

  • Russian soldiers walk past a Russian military police armored vehicle at a position in the northeastern Syrian city Kobane on Oct. 23, 2019. (AFP via Getty Images)
    Russian forces deploy at Syrian border under new accord with Turkey

    Russian military police began patrols on part of the Syrian border Wednesday, quickly moving to implement an accord with Turkey that divvies up control of northeastern Syria. The Kremlin told Kurdish fighters to pull back from the entire frontier or else face being “steamrolled” by Turkish forces.

  • Smoke billows from targets inside Syria during bombardment by Turkish forces Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, in this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey. (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)
    Turkey presses Syrian assault as thousands flee the fighting

    Turkey pressed its assault against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria on Thursday for a second day, pounding the region with airstrikes and an artillery bombardment that raised columns of black smoke in a border town and sent panicked civilians scrambling to get out.

  • Shortly after the Turkish operation inside Syria had started, local residents cheer and applaud as a convoy of Turkish forces vehicles is driven through the town of Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, at the border between Turkey and Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)
    Turkey begins offensive aimed at Kurdish fighters in Syria

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of the campaign, which followed an announcement Sunday by U.S. President Donald Trump that American troops would step aside in a shift in U.S. policy that essentially abandoned the Syrian Kurds. They were longtime U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State group.

  • Members of Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (former FSA) flash the V-sign as they drive back to Turkey after they went in for some time on inspection according to the Turkish police entourage in the same area at the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long threatened to send troops into northeastern Syria to clear the border region of Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers a serious security threat. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
    Kurds mobilize in Syria as Turkey poised for imminent attack

    Syrian Kurdish forces who are allied with the United States issued a "general mobilization" call on Wednesday in northeastern Syria, along the border with Turkey, as Ankara threatened an imminent invasion of the area.

  • Policemen search for evidence at the historic Sultanahmet district after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. An explosion in a historic district of Istanbul popular with tourists killed 10 people and injured 15 others Tuesday morning, the Istanbul governor's office said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
    10 dead, 15 wounded in Istanbul tourist district explosion

    A Syrian suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a historic district of Istanbul popular with tourists Tuesday morning, killing at least 10 people.

  • Turkish police officers work near the site of an explosion at a police station, seen right, in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli neighborhood, early Monday, Aug. 10, 2015. The bomb attack at the police station injured three policemen and seven civilians and caused a fire that collapsed part of the three-story building. Police said the assailants exploded a car bomb near the station. Unknown assailants later fired on police inspecting the scene of the explosion, sparking another gunfight with police that killed a member of the police inspection team and two assailants. (AP Photo/Akin Celiktas)
    Day of violence in Istanbul leaves at least 4 dead 

    Two women opened fire at the heavily protected U.S. Consulate in Istanbul on Monday, while assailants exploded a car bomb at a police station then fired on police inspecting the scene, in a day of heavy violence in Turkey's largest city.

  • In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, Syrian refugees cheer and chant pro-Turkey slogans as they wait on the Syrian side of the border in order to cross, under the watchful eye of a Turkish soldier on an armored personnel carrier, Sunday, June 14, 2015. The mass displacement of Syrians came as Kurdish fighters announced they are making headway toward the border town of Tal Abyad, a stronghold of the extremist group near the Turkish border. The loss of Tal Abyad would be a major blow to the Islamic State group as it is a major avenue for commerce for the extremist group.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
    Kurds nearing key Islamic State-held Syrian border town

    Syrian Kurdish fighters closed in on the outskirts of a strategic Islamic State-held town on the Turkish border Sunday, Kurdish officials and an activist group said, potentially cutting off a key supply line for the extremists' nearby de facto capital.

  • In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, a masked gunman, believed to be an Islamic State militant runs, as he gives orders to Syrian refugees waiting on the Syrian side of the border in order to cross, to return back to the city of Tal Abyad, Syria, Saturday, June 13, 2015. Several militants pushed the refugees back towards the city but later the refugees massed again near the border fence in hope to flee intense fighting between Syrian Kurds and militants from the Islamic State group in nearby towns and villages. The mass displacement of Syrians came as Kurdish fighters announced they are making headway toward Tal Abyad, the stronghold of the extremist group near the Turkish border. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
    Syrian Kurds nearing IS border stronghold

    Hundreds of Syrian refugees poured into a Turkish-Syrian border crossing Saturday, fleeing intense fighting between Syrian Kurds and militants from the Islamic State group in nearby towns and villages.

  • In this image shot with an extreme telephoto lens and through heat-haze from a hilltop in Mursitpinar on the outskirts of Suruc at the Turkey-Syria border, Kurdish fighters, bottom, walk to their positions in Kobani, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, has been under assault by extremists of the Islamic State group since mid-September and is being defended by Kurdish fighters. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
    Airstrikes, street battles intensify in Kobani

    MURSITPINAR, Turkey – Bolstered by intensified U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeting militants from the Islamic St...

  • Airstrikes push jihadists back in Syrian town

    MURSITPINAR, Turkey – New U.S.-led airstrikes near the Syrian border town of Kobani have helped Kurdish fighters pus...