A U.S. envoy says that Syria’s central government and the Kurds remain at odds over plans on merging their forces after the latest round of talks

Iran’s armed proxies are ramping up pressure on key points in the Middle East as Tehran attempts to rebuild its regional influence, eroded by almost two years of a destructive Israeli military campaign.

Clashes that shook southern Syria this week killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drew in an array of local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country's yearslong civil war.

Member of the European Parliament Andreas Schieder on Saturday urged Turkey to embrace peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and called for stronger European Union engagement across Syria and the region.

In the 1990s when the Turkish government fought a pitiless war against the PKK, banned Kurdish language, criminalized identifying as a Kurd, and depopulated thousands of Kurdish villages, Erdogan, a young politician, produced a report advocating for greater rights for the Kurds.

Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state, eight sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In Syria, violence continued between rival factions even after a ceasefire deal. Government troops withdrew overnight from a region as Israel said it would not allow Syrian forces south of Damascus, extending its attempted control of the area.

A Syrian military official said correspondence with the US had led Damascus to believe it could deploy forces to Sweida without Israel confronting them. US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said on Friday that Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey,

NPR's Leil Fadel asks Mahmoud Meslat, co-chair of the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces, whether Kurds in the semi-autonomous northwest region have a voice in the new government.

US envoy reports ongoing disagreements between Syria's government and Kurds regarding force merger plans after recent talks.

The latest escalation began with a Bedouin tribe in Sweida setting up a checkpoint and attacking and robbing a Druze man, which triggered tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.