Matthew Lee, The Associated Press

  • Mist rolls over the U.S. Capitol dome early Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
    Congress takes aim at Syrian war crimes, Russian aggression

    Congress on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure on Syria, Russia and China while making it more difficult for the Trump administration to reduce commitments to allies from Europe to Asia.

  • Lebanese Army commandos march in a military parade in the capital Beirut on Nov. 22, 2016. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
    Trump administration approves over $100M for Lebanon military

    The aid is intended to help counter Iran’s influence in Lebanon, which is highlighted by the presence of the Iranian-supported Shiite Hezbollah movement in the government and the group’s militias.

  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, third from right, pose for a group photo with other foreign ministers and officials at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Small Group Ministerial meeting. (Susan Walsh/AP)
    Pompeo presses European countries to take detained Islamic State fighters

    European and other members of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group must take back and prosecute their nationals detained in Iraq and Syria to help keep ISIS from regaining territory, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday.

  • This photo released by Hawar News, the news agency for the semi-autonomous Kurdish areas in Syria, shows the head of the anti-ISIS U.S. coalition, Maj. Gen. James Jarrard, center, and veteran Middle East diplomat William Roebuck, left, in the town of Manbij, in Aleppo province, Syria, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (Hawar News via AP)
    Senior US envoy in Syria highly critical of American troop withdrawal

    A senior American diplomat has written a highly critical assessment of the Trump administration’s abrupt withdrawal of troops from northeast Syria last month, a decision that paved the way for an attack on U.S.-allied forces in the area, officials said Thursday.

  • Mourners attend a funeral for Kurdish political leader Hevrin Khalaf and others, including civilians and Kurdish fighters, in the northeastern Syrian Kurdish town of Derik on Oct. 13, 2019. (Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)
    Fearing American abandonment, Kurds kept back channels to Damascus, Moscow wide open

    When Syria’s Kurdish fighters, America’s longtime battlefield allies against the Islamic State, announced over the weekend that they were switching sides and joining up with Damascus and Moscow, it seemed like a moment of geopolitical whiplash.

  • Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint news conference after talks with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. Erdogan is on a two-day official visit to Serbia. (Darko Vojinovic/AP)
    Trump’s confusing moves raise questions about Turkey, Syria

    A day after President Donald Trump threatened to “ruin the economy of Turkey” if it goes too far with a planned invasion of northern Syria, he announced on Tuesday that he’s invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House next month.

  • U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. (Richard Drew/AP)
    Trump attacks globalism and urges pressure on Iran at UN

    President Donald Trump stood before world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday and rejected “globalism” and liberal immigration policies while exhorting the world to act against Iran’s “bloodlust.” His speech and subsequent meetings had to compete with news from Washington that the House is moving forward with an impeachment inquiry.