The State Department named "bringing peace" to Syria as a 2015 accomplishment—as Russian air-strikes continue on schools, and starvation sets in behind rebel lines.
Akhtem Chiygoz, deputy head of the Tatar Majlis, is about to go on trial in Russian-annexed Crimea, in a case opponents say "flies in the face of all principles of law."
Amid counterinsurgency against Kurds in Turkey, Kurdish opposition leader Selahattin DemirtaÅ is received in Moscow—now executing a grisly counterinsurgency in Syria.
The UN resolution on a democratic transition in Syria assumes this can happen under Assad's rule. The US is now openly blocking with Russia over support for the dictatorship.
Russian naval forces got in a confrontation with Turkish vessels in the Black Sea, with control of contested oil platforms off the Crimean Peninsula at issue.
Turkey's prime minister accuses Russia of "ethnic cleansing" with air-strikes targeting Turkmen in Syria—as Ankara continues to attack Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq alike.
Kurdish strongman Masoud Barzani has invited a Turkish military force into his territory, with the apparent aim of driving the PKK from northern Iraq.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee announced that security forcesĀ killed three militants who had sworn allegiance to ISIS in a shoot-outĀ in Dagestan. (Map via La Croix International)
A growing split between secular and Islamist elements of the FSA is unfortunately mirrored by a breach between Kurds and Ankara-backed Arab and Turkmen forces.
With Moscow threatening sanctions against Turkey, plans for a Russo-Turkish free trade zone and joint gas pipeline route appear be on hold.
The situation in northern Syria is escalating amid Russo-Turkish brinkmanship, with Turkmen villages coming under intense Russian bombardment.
After Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane over Syria, Vladimir Putin openly accused Ankara of backing ISIS—echoing a charge Kurdish forces have been making for months.
