Kurdish YPG militia

Incoming Democratic President-elect Joe Biden wants to turn the page in Washington's relations with Ankara, Turkey's presidential spokesman has said according to reports.

Turkey will have repatriated most of its Islamic State detainees to their home countries by the end of the year, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told Reuters on Tuesday, a week after Turkish authorities began the repatriation program.

Turkey will have to open the doors to Europe for Syrian refugees unless the European Union provides Ankara with enough support, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, adding that Turkey could not carry that burden alone.

The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State has started the process of withdrawing from Syria, its spokesman said on Friday, quoted by haaretz.com

A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters is poised to begin a new offensive in the Syrian city of Raqqa shortly, a commander has told the BBC. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been fighting so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in the group's former stronghold for nearly four months.

France's foreign minister called on Sept. 14 for a rapid resolution in the case of a Frenchjournalist detained by Turkish security forces on the Iraqi border last month, so that he can return to his family.

Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed militias converged on Islamic State in separate offensives against the militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Sunday, reported Reuters. 

The United States is taking steps to try to avoid a conflict between Turkey and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, which Turkey views as terrorists, in Syria, the top U.S. commander overseeing American troops in the Middle East said on March 9, acknowledging the risk of a clash existed.

U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford held a meeting on Feb. 17 with Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar at the İncirlik air base to discuss an offensive to capture Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford held a meeting on Feb. 17 with Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar at the İncirlik air base to discuss an offensive to capture Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).