Bashar al-Assad

Sunni militants advanced through west Iraq after seizing a strategic Syria border crossing, as US Secretary of State John Kerry called Sunday for the country's leaders to rise above sectarianism.
      

It has already become certain that ISIL’s (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) invasion of Mosul will pass into history as the “pre-Mosul and post-Mosul era.” The post-Mosul order turns the regional balance of power upside down. Hence, Turkey has to make a completely new reading of the region and adapt its policies accordingly.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama will discuss the situation in Ukraine, Iraq and Syria "in the coming days," a top aide said on Friday.
      
Speaking to reporters, Putin's top foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, did not provide further details about the upcoming phone call.
      

A car bomb claimed by rebels killed at least 34 people on Friday in a government-controlled village in the central Syrian province of Hama, state news agency SANA reported.
      
More than 50 people were wounded in the attack in Al-Horra, SANA said, blaming the attack on rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
      

With the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) taking over a very wide geography from the north of Iraq towards its center, we can say that not only within Iraq, but in the entire Middle East, power equilibriums are being disrupted; and as a consequence of this all the alliances in the region will re-shape. This creates several significant outcomes as summarized below:

The number of Syrians who are housed in refugee camps and cities in neighbouring Turkey has reached 1.05 million, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay told a news conference on Thursday.
   
Ankara has maintained an "open border" policy to refugees fleeing the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels in Syria.

Turkey has the right to stage a military operation in Mosul according to international law, according to Rıza Türmen, a deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who added that the CHP could support a motion for such a military operation.

Syria's army said on June 15 it had recaptured the strategic town of Kassab, near the only border crossing with Turkey in Latakia province, after it fell to rebels almost three months ago.

Both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and jihadist groups battling to oust him stand to benefit from a lightning offensive by militants across the border in Iraq, analysts believe.

Fighters from the powerful jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group began an offensive in Iraq on Monday, taking a swathe of mostly Sunni Arab territory in the north.

“Why are they constantly attacking us in the world, why are we always the target?” main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu asked this question to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who paid him a visit for a briefing. Davutoğlu responded he would get back to this question, but was never able to.