Syria

In 2019, Turkey has shown its strength both at the table and the field ground with three crucial moves, said the presidential spokesman on Dec. 29.

The European Union on Dec. 29 called on Syria's regime and its allies to halt "indiscriminate" military attacks on civilians in the country's northwest, where an intensifying bombardment by Damascus and Russian forces has displaced tens of thousands.    

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has strongly criticized the government's willingness to send Turkish soldiers to a Libya mission, expressing his party's fierce opposition to any decision that would result in spilling the blood of Turkish soldiers abroad.

At least 80,000 Syrians moved near Turkey's border in the past five days following intense attacks by Bashar al-Assad]s regime, Russia and Iran backed-groups in this northern Syrian province, the Director of Syria's Response Coordination Group Mohammad Halaj said Friday. 

Halaj said at least 180,000 civilians were displaced since the beginning of November in Idlib due to the attacks.

The U.S. Senate has passed a $738 billion budget for the Pentagon which includes new sanctions within six months against Syria, Iran, and Russia for their "war crimes" during the Syrian civil war.

The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020 was approved on Dec. 18 by an 86-6 bipartisan vote after passing the House of Representatives last week.

Turkey's Interior Minister said on Wednesday that around 100,000 Syrians living without approval in Istanbul had left it since early July, when the government set a deadline for Syrians not registered in the city to leave for other provinces.

The former British military officer who was found dead in front of his house in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district was not actually the founder of the White Helmets group, an executive of the group officially known as the Syria Civil Defense has said.

The UN reports that more than 11 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance. This is more than half of the country's population. Humanitarian organizations manage to reach only about 5.5 million people a month, bTV reported.

France will accept 11 suspected French jihadists from Turkey, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said a day after Ankara said it was deporting foreign Islamic State fighters, Reuters reported.

Russia on Nov. 12 accused the U.S. of attempting to separate Syria from its oil-rich regions.