Syrian civil war

US-led air strikes targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) killed at least 52 civilians in a village in northern Syria, a monitoring group said on May 2. 

"Air strikes by the coalition early on Friday on the village of Birmahle in Aleppo province killed 52 civilians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

Turkey?s always dynamic, always changing agenda does not permit many of us to follow and cover foreign policy issues in the necessary depth. This is especially the case amid the tense internal political climate on the eve of the June 7 parliamentary elections.

Islamist rebels and the Syrian army fought fierce battles in Latakia province overnight close to President Bashar al-Assad's ancestral home, the army and rebels said, after weeks of insurgent gains in the country's northwest. 

Some 123 U.S. soldiers arrived in Turkey as part of a program to train and equip the putatively moderate Syrian opposition, along with weapons that are being transferred to ?ncirlik Airbase in the southern province of Adana.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, if you happen to walk on the shores of Bebek and Rumelihisar? in Istanbul, three of the four young people that you bump into will most likely be speaking Arabic as their native language. And they will not be from Qatar or Kuwait. They are the wealthy Syrians who are in exile in Istanbul.

Some 123 U.S. soldiers arrived in Turkey for training of moderate Syrian opposition, along with weapons that are being transferred to ?ncirlik Airbase for equipping part of the program.

Around 40 U.S. Special Forces members have arrived in Turkey to join their Turkish colleagues in training Syrian rebel groups to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), sources have told Hürriyet.

The U.S. soldiers have moved to the Hirfanl? gendarmerie base in the Central Anatolian province of K?r?ehir, where they will start the training in 10 days, the sources said.

Syria?s defense minister started an official visit to its major ally Iran April 28 at the head of a military delegation to discuss cooperation ?in the face of terrorism,? Syria?s state news agency SANA said.

A man who once fought as a sniper for the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was killed in southern Turkey four months ago by the brother of one his victims, whom he ran into coincidentally while trying to flee to Germany, Turkish authorities have revealed.

Ultra-radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents have killed at least 2,154 people off the battlefield in Syria since the end of June when the group declared a caliphate in territory it controls, a Syrian human rights monitor said on April 28.