AANES–Syria relations concern the military and political relations between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), a de facto autonomous multi-ethnic region in northern and eastern Syria. The Syrian government does not officially recognise the autonomy of the AANES, and advocates a centralist approach to the governance of Syria. The NES seeks the federalisation of Syria. For most of the Syrian civil war, there has been a non-aggression pact between the military of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces, with occasional confrontations and some cooperation against Islamist groups, in particular against the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. While the two sides co-operated militarily under Russian supervision since 2019, with Syrian and Russian troops stationed along the Turkish border to prevent further advances, political negotiations have ended in failure. The Syrian government has no authority or institutions in North and East Syria outside of its two security boxes in Qamishli/Qamislo and Al-Hasakah/Heseke. The Autonomous Administration does not allow the Syrian Government to hold elections in areas under its control.
Operation Euphrates Shield was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces in the Syrian Civil War which led to the Turkish occupation of northern Syria. Operations were carried out in the region between the Euphrates river to the east and the rebel-held area around Azaz to the west. The Turkish military and Turkey-aligned Syrian rebel groups, some of which used the Free Syrian Army label, fought against the forces of the Islamic State (IS) as well as against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from 24 August 2016. On 29 March 2017, the Turkish military officially announced that Operation Euphrates Shield was "successfully completed".
The Battle of al-Bab was a battle for the city of al-Bab in the Aleppo Governorate that included a military offensive launched by Syrian rebel groups and the Turkish Armed Forces north of al-Bab, a separate Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) offensive east and west of the city, and another Syrian Army offensive from the south of the city. The northern Turkish-led forces intended to capture al-Bab from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as part of the Turkish military intervention in Syria. By the end of the battle, the Turkish-led forces had captured al-Bab, Qabasin, and Bizaah, while the Syrian Army captured Tadef and other areas further south, with the SDF making gains further to the east and the west.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from September to December 2017. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The Afrin offensive was a military operation launched by the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army against the Syrian Democratic Forces in Afrin District in northwestern Syria as the initial phase of Operation Olive Branch. At the end of military operations, the UN had registered 150,000 Kurdish refugees in camps in the area of Tel Rifaat; the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimated that 300,000 people had been expelled in total. By May, SOHR estimated that 40,000 settlers had been moved into Afrin, some of them Arabs displaced from eastern Ghouta, but mostly families of the mixed Arab and Syrian Turkmen militias.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from September to December 2018. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2019. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The SDF insurgency in northern Syria refers to a campaign of armed attacks carried out by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), following the expansion of the Turkish occupation of northern Syria after the early 2018 Operation Olive Branch carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA).
The 2019 Tell Rifaat Clashes were a military confrontation between Turkey and allied Free Syrian Army groups against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in early May 2019.
The 2019–2020 northwestern Syria offensive, codenamed "Dawn of Idlib 2," was a military operation launched by the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and other allied militias against Syrian opposition and allied fighters of the Syrian National Army, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Rouse the Believers Operations Room, the Turkistan Islamic Party, and other rebel and Salafi jihadist forces in Idlib and surrounding governorates during the Syrian civil war. The offensive began on 19 December 2019 and saw Russian-backed pro-Syrian government forces clash with Turkish-backed opposition groups along with leaving 980,000 civilians displaced.
Operation Spring Shield was a cross-border military operation carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in the Idlib Governorate of northwestern Syria against the Syrian Armed Forces and allied militias. The operation was launched on 27 February 2020 in direct response to the Balyun airstrikes, aiming to address the escalating situation in the region.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2020. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
Al-Fatah al-Mubin or Great Conquest is an operations room of Syrian rebel and jihadist factions participating in the Syrian civil war. The operations room was declared in June 2019, evolving from the "Damascus Conquest" operations room formed in May during the Syrian Army's Dawn of Idlib 1 campaign and consists of rebel groups operating in opposition-held areas of northwestern Syria concentrated in Idlib. The three groups comprising the coalition are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation, and Jaysh al-Izza. In October 2020, HTS and two leading factions from the NLF began to finalize the creation of a Unified Military Council in Idlib.
The 2020–2021 Ayn Issa clashes were a series of clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) in Ayn Issa during the Syrian civil war.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2021. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2022. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found in Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
On 20 November 2022 the Turkish Air Force launched Operation Claw-Sword, a series of airstrikes against Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian Army positions in Northern Syria and against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) positions in Northern Iraq. The airstrikes were launched following the 2022 Istanbul bombing on 13 November, that the Turkish government say was conducted by Kurdish separatists.
Starting on 2 December 2022, a series of intensified clashes broke out of the frontlines of the 'Idlib de-escalation zone' located in the governorates of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia. These confrontations initiated through inghimasi, infiltration and sniper attacks by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied militant groups against positions held by the pro-government Syrian Arab Army (SAA) positions. These attacks were called We Will Not Reconcile by HTS.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2023. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found in Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
Starting on 5 October 2023, the Turkish Armed Forces launched a series of air and ground strikes targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces in Northeastern Syria. The airstrikes were launched in response to the 2023 Ankara bombing, which the Turkish government alleges was carried out by attackers originating from Northeastern Syria.
Turkey 
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria 
Syria 
Russia 
20 killed, 10 wounded [lower-alpha 1] 
