Free Syrian Army

Syrian opposition groups are resisting Jordanian pressure to hand control of a border crossing back to the Syrian government, a step that would be a major boost for President Bashar al-Assad and undermine rebel groups in southwestern Syria, reported Reuters. 

Turkey has extradited a French Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant, who is believed to have been a key figure in recruiting French nationals to the terror group, to France this week, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MİT) and police have brought three female Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) militants, who wished to surrender to the Turkish security forces, from an Aleppo neighborhood controlled by the PYD to Turkey's southeastern border province of Kilis, daily Habertürk reported on Sept. 21.

Several dozen Syrian extremists linked to both al-Nusra Front and ISIS, who committed "numerous massacres" of civilians and captives, have sought asylum in Germany, Der Spiegel reports.

U.S.-led coalition forces returned fire after being repeatedly shot at near Manbij in northern Syria, where they are patrolling near areas held by Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon stated late on Aug. 29.

Syrian Kurds are taking critical steps to deal with the threat of being caught in a vise between their worsening relations with the Damascus regime, and Turkey’s possible cross-border operations. Syria’s Kurds have just proposed a new governmental structure comprising three federal regions and six cantons in the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria (previously known as Rojava).

Turkey has limited cross-border movements at its Cilvegözü crossing on the Syrian border because the area "has been taken by a group that we consider a terrorist group," Customs Minister Bülent Tüfenkci stated on Aug. 10. 

Around 100,000 refugees are expected to return to Syria from Turkey by the end of 2017, according to a project started as part of cooperation between the Family and Social Policies Ministry and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Three of the leading international powers involved in Syria's war—the U.S., Russia and Iran—are looking to expand and fortify their military presence in the country by building and upgrading foreign bases, with some already in the works, according to NewsWeek.

The Islamic State stands on the brink of a twin defeat. Mosul, the largest city under its control, has almost entirely fallen from its grasp, and Kurdish-led forces are advancing into its de facto capital of Raqqa.