Northeast Syria

The nearly eight-year-old US deployment to Syria to combat Islamic State is still worth the risk, the top US military officer said on Saturday, after a rare, unannounced visit to a dusty base in the country's northeast to meet U.S. troops.

US and Russian troops exchanged friendly greetings and posed for pictures together over the weekend on a northeast Syria highway in a rare display of congeniality between the rival forces.

A lack of international assistance to Turkey to support millions of refugees on its soil pushed Ankara to launch operations in northeast Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

US military vehicles Saturday entered a Kurdish-held area in northeastern Syria and met with officials, AFP correspondents and a local source said, in the second such visit since an announced US pullout from the Turkish border area.

Syrian and Russian forces will deploy in northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey under a deal agreed on Tuesday which both Moscow and Ankara hailed as a triumph.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that France wanted to see an extension of a ceasefire by Turkey in northeast Syria, the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

The US armed forces demolished their own airbase in Al-Hasakah province in northeast Syria before abandoning it and withdrawing troops, Syrian media reported on Sunday.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels advanced into the border town of Ras al Ain in northeast Syria on Saturday but it was unclear how far, with Turkey saying it had taken the town center, and Kurdish-led forces denying that and saying they were counter-attacking.

Turkey intensified its air and artillery strikes on Kurdish militia in northeast Syria on Friday, escalating an offensive that has drawn warnings of humanitarian catastrophe and turned Republican lawmakers against US President Donald Trump.

Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies attacked Kurdish militia in northeast Syria on Wednesday, pounding them with air strikes and artillery before starting a cross-border ground operation that could transform an eight-year-old war.

Turkey said on Tuesday it had completed preparations for a military operation in northeast Syria after the United States began pulling back troops, opening the way for a Turkish attack on Kurdish-led forces long allied to Washington.

The United Nations said Monday it was "preparing for the worst" in northeast Syria after the United States said it would step aside to allow for Turkish military operations in the area.

A coalition of fighters have ousted the last ISIS terrorists from Syria's northeast province of Hasakeh, the force and a monitor said late Saturday.

Syrian anti-aircraft defences shot down missiles fired at the Syrian air base of Shayrat in Homs province late on Monday and another base northeast of the capital, Damascus, Syria's state television and pro-Iranian Hezbollah media said.

Syrian rebels have lost all of the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in eastern Aleppo, a monitor said Monday, as the army pushed an offensive to retake the battered city.

The nearly eight-year-old US deployment to Syria to combat Islamic State is still worth the risk, the top US military officer said on Saturday, after a rare, unannounced visit to a dusty base in the country's northeast to meet U.S. troops.

US and Russian troops exchanged friendly greetings and posed for pictures together over the weekend on a northeast Syria highway in a rare display of congeniality between the rival forces.

A lack of international assistance to Turkey to support millions of refugees on its soil pushed Ankara to launch operations in northeast Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

US military vehicles Saturday entered a Kurdish-held area in northeastern Syria and met with officials, AFP correspondents and a local source said, in the second such visit since an announced US pullout from the Turkish border area.

Syrian and Russian forces will deploy in northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey under a deal agreed on Tuesday which both Moscow and Ankara hailed as a triumph.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that France wanted to see an extension of a ceasefire by Turkey in northeast Syria, the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

The US armed forces demolished their own airbase in Al-Hasakah province in northeast Syria before abandoning it and withdrawing troops, Syrian media reported on Sunday.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels advanced into the border town of Ras al Ain in northeast Syria on Saturday but it was unclear how far, with Turkey saying it had taken the town center, and Kurdish-led forces denying that and saying they were counter-attacking.

Turkey intensified its air and artillery strikes on Kurdish militia in northeast Syria on Friday, escalating an offensive that has drawn warnings of humanitarian catastrophe and turned Republican lawmakers against US President Donald Trump.

Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies attacked Kurdish militia in northeast Syria on Wednesday, pounding them with air strikes and artillery before starting a cross-border ground operation that could transform an eight-year-old war.

Turkey said on Tuesday it had completed preparations for a military operation in northeast Syria after the United States began pulling back troops, opening the way for a Turkish attack on Kurdish-led forces long allied to Washington.

The United Nations said Monday it was "preparing for the worst" in northeast Syria after the United States said it would step aside to allow for Turkish military operations in the area.

A coalition of fighters have ousted the last ISIS terrorists from Syria's northeast province of Hasakeh, the force and a monitor said late Saturday.

Syrian anti-aircraft defences shot down missiles fired at the Syrian air base of Shayrat in Homs province late on Monday and another base northeast of the capital, Damascus, Syria's state television and pro-Iranian Hezbollah media said.

Syrian rebels have lost all of the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in eastern Aleppo, a monitor said Monday, as the army pushed an offensive to retake the battered city.