ISIS fighters seized the last oil-field still under the control of the Assad regime after several days of fighting. The Jazal field has a production capacity of 2,500 barrels per day.
The Turkish state is lining up international support for its "anti-terrorist" campaign against the PKK—as it carries out air-strikes and harsh repression on Kurdish villages.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, building a wall along the Serbian border and herding migrants into detainment camps, warned Syrian refugees to stay in Turkey.
Military atrocities against Kurds in Turkey's east are sparking protests across the country and the Kurdish diaspora—and a wave defections from village paramilitary forces.
Russian fighter pilots are arriving in Syria, to begin sorties against ISIS and rebel forces—amid reports that Moscow's elite units are already fighting on the ground for the regime.
Working-class districts of Istanbul, following the lead of rebel Kurds in Turkey's east, are declaring "autonomy" from the state—amid ongoing street clashes with security forces.
In response to the new offensive by the Turkish government, Kurds in the country's east are declaring their own regional autonomy and throwing up roadblocks.
The Turkish army is shelling and burning Kurdish villages in the country's east, while just across the Syrian border ISIS continues to harass Kurdish towns with suicide attacks.
Following years of drought, Iran has quietly sought help from the US in managing a severe water crisis during the same period that US-Iran nuclear talks were underway.
A partial ceasefire in Syria was brokered by the great regional enemies Turkey and Iran—and may signal the division of the country into "spheres of influence."
As Turkey continues to bomb Kurdish anti-ISIS fighters in Iraq, violence is quickly spreading within Turkey itself—with bombings and armed clashes from Istanbul to the Kurdish east.
The US and Turkey have reached an agreement to keep Kurdish forces out of the northern Syria "buffer zone" as Ankara expands its air-strikes in both Syria and Iraq.
