Syria

Latest Stories

In this Jan. 22, 2019, photo, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., left, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., speak to the media after their meeting with President Donald Trump about Venezuela, at the White House in Washington. Two years into President Donald Trump’s administration, the president’s allies in Congress are quietly trying to influence and even reshape his “America First” foreign policy agenda. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Senate reasserts foreign policy role, reshapes Trump agenda

By LISA MASCARO - Associated Press

President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. Vice President Mike Pence is at right. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Donald Trump insists troops must come home, dismisses pleas from the Senate

By Gabriella Muñoz - The Washington Times

President Donald Trump speaks during an event on human trafficking in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Friday, Feb. 1, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Trump’s ‘America first’ mantra will be prominent in address

By DEB RIECHMANN - Associated Press

In this April 4, 2018 photo, a U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council soldier, left, speaks with a U.S. soldier, at a U.S. position near the tense front line with Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij town, north Syria. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops from Syria has rattled Washington's Kurdish allies, who are its most reliable partner in Syria and among the most effective ground forces battling the Islamic State group. Kurds in northern Syria said commanders and fighters met into the night, discussing their response to the surprise announcement Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Senate defies Trump in vote against ‘precipitous’ pullout in Syria, Afghanistan

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters asking about the threat of another government shutdown following their weekly strategy meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ** FILE **

Democrats’ challenges to Trump foreign policy find Senate Republicans support

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

In this Jan. 29, 2019, photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington. In a rebuke to President Donald Trump, the Senate has voted 68-23 to advance an amendment that would oppose withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. The amendment from McConnell says Islamic State and al-Qaida militants still pose a serious threat to the United States and warns that “a precipitous withdrawal” of U.S. forces from Syria and Afghanistan could allow the groups to regroup and destabilize the countries. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate vote rebukes Trump on Syria, Afghanistan

By MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press

FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2018 file photo, Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, talks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Lowcock urged Syria's warring parties on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019 to ensure the delivery of desperately needed aid to Syrians stranded near the border with Jordan and warned again that a major military operation in extremist-controlled Idlib would be a humanitarian catastrophe. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)

UN humanitarian chief urges aid delivery to Syrians

By EDITH M. LEDERER - Associated Press

FILE - In this July 25, 2017 file photo, Ilham Ahmed, the co-president of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the Kurdish-led forces backed by the US in Raqqa, gives an interview to The Associated Press, in Kobani, north Syria. Ahmed, in Washington on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019, said the United States is seeking to broker an agreement between her group and Turkey over how to manage northeastern Syria once American troops withdraw. Ahmed was in Washington to lobby for a negotiated U.S. troop withdrawal that would secure her forces' continued presence. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

AP Interview: Syrian Kurds say US seeking deal with Turkey

By SARAH EL DEEB - Associated Press

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, speaks with Iran's first Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, left, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. Syria's president said Tuesday that new trade agreements with Iran will help the two countries face the &quot;economic war&quot; waged against them by the West. Syria's government is under heavy Western sanctions linked to its actions over the course of the civil war. Iran, a close ally of Assad, is under renewed U.S. sanctions following President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. (SANA via AP)

Syria, Iran reach new economic agreements

Associated Press

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. walks out of the Senate Chamber after passing a continuing resolution to reopen the government, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

McConnell warns against early exit from Syria, Afghanistan

Associated Press

French jihadis will return home, and to prison, from Syria

By LORI HINNANT - Associated Press

Hundreds of civilians, fighters flee IS stronghold in Syria

Associated Press

Qais al-Khazali, the leader of the militant Shiite group Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Al-Khazali said Monday that he expects a vote by the Iraqi parliament calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country within the next few months. Al-Khazali said there is no longer a justification for thousands of U.S. troops in the country after the Islamic State group has been defeated. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

AP Interview: Iraq Shiite figure says US troops should leave

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ZEINA KARAM - Associated Press

Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, right, shakes hands with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during his visit, in Tunis, Tunisia, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

Russia urges North Africa to bring Syria back to Arab League

Associated Press

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, gestures as Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to him during a joint news conference following their talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. Russia and Turkey are jockeying for clout in Syria as the U.S. plans to withdraw its troops from the country. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Syria wants Turkish withdrawal to revive security agreement

By ALBERT AJI - Associated Press

FILE - In this file pool photo taken on Oct. 4, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. The crisis in Venezuela may have reached a new boiling point, but the geopolitical fault lines look familiar. Russia, China and Iran have thrown their support behind embattled Maduro, while the U.S., Canada and their allies in Western Europe are backing opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president. (Yuri Kadobnov/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Venezuela crisis: Familiar geopolitical sides take shape

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA - Associated Press

6 Kosovars jailed for joining terror groups

Associated Press

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a man tries to extinguishes flames rising from a burned car at the site of an explosion, in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Syrian state TV said Tuesday's blast was a car bomb that went off in Al-Hammam Square in Latakia that has been a government stronghold since the conflict began in March 2011. (SANA via AP)

Syria: Blast in coastal city of Latakia kills 1

Associated Press

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows missiles flying into the sky near international airport, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. In a very unusual move, the Israeli military has issued a statement saying it is attacking Iranian military targets in Syria. It is also warning Syrian authorities not to retaliate against Israel. (SANA via AP)

The Latest: Israeli PM says Iranian sites in Syria ‘pounded’

Associated Press

Illustration on the complexities of withdrawing from Syria by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

Sorting out Syria, militarily and politically

By Abraham R. Wagner