Turkey–Syria relations are the relations between Turkey and the Syrian Arab Republic. Turkey shares its longest common border with Syria; various geographic and historical links also tie the two neighbouring countries together.
The Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing is located on the Syria–Turkey border about 50 km (31 mi) west of Aleppo in northwest Syria. It connects the Syrian M45 and the Turkish D827 highways, between the cities of İskenderun and Idlib, and is known for its long lines of trucks and buses. The closest town on the Turkish side of the border is Reyhanlı in Hatay Province, and the closest towns on the Syrian side are ad-Dana and Atarib. The crossing is the site of a 6th-century triumphal arch. It has been an important crossing for Syrian rebels during the Syrian civil war.
As the civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War turned into an all-out civil war, the 911-kilometre-long (600 mi) Syria–Turkey border became the scene of minor military clashes between the Turkish Army and various factions in the war to the south.
On 1 February 2013, a suicide bomber attacked the United States embassy in Ankara, Turkey, killing a security guard and wounding three others. The bombing was subsequently denounced as an act of terrorism by both Turkey and the United States.
RedHack is a Turkish Marxist-Leninist computer hacker group founded in 1997. The group has claimed responsibility for hacking the websites of institutions which include the Council of Higher Education, Turkish police forces, the Turkish Army, Türk Telekom, and the National Intelligence Organization others. The group's core membership is said to be twelve. RedHack is the first hacker group which has been accused of being a terrorist organization and circa 2015 is one of the world's most wanted hacker groups.
The 2013 Reyhanlı car bombings took place on 11 May 2013, when two car bombs exploded in the Turkish town of Reyhanlı, a town of 64,000 people, 5 km from the Syrian border and the busiest land border post with Syria, in Hatay Province, Turkey. At least 52 people were killed and 140 injured in the attack.
Mihraç Ural, also known as Ali Kayyali, is a Turkish-Syrian Alawite militant and leader of the Syrian Resistance, a pro-Syrian government militia.
On 15 August 2013, a car bomb exploded in Beirut, Lebanon killing 27 people and injuring over 200 people. The car bomb was intended for the stronghold of Hezbollah. It was reportedly the "worst explosion in south Beirut" since a 1985 truck bomb assassination attempt targeting top Shiite cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. The Islamist group Aisha Umm-al Mouemeneen, also known as Brigades of Aisha, were responsible for the explosion. In their statement the group accused Hezbollah of being Iranian agents and threatened more attacks. "This is the second time that we decide the time and place of the battle ... And you will see more, God willing," However Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and other politicians blamed Israel for the attack.
The Suruç bombing was a suicide attack by the Turkish sect of Islamic State named Dokumacılar against Turkish leftists that took place in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa Province in Turkey on 20 July 2015, outside the Amara Culture Centre. A total of 34 people were killed and 104 were reported injured. Most victims were members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) Youth Wing and the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), university students who were giving a press statement on their planned trip to reconstruct the Syrian border town of Kobanî.
The Turkey–Islamic State conflict were a series of attacks and clashes between the state of Turkey and the Islamic State. Turkey joined the War against the Islamic State in 2016, after the Islamic State attacks in Turkey. The Turkish Armed Forces' Operation Euphrates Shield was aimed against both the Islamic State and the SDF. Part of Turkish-occupied northern Syria, around Jarabulus and al-Bab, was taken after Turkey drove the Islamic State out of it.
In late July 2015, the third phase of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict between various Kurdish insurgent groups and the Turkish government erupted, following a failed two and a half year-long peace process aimed at resolving the long-running conflict.
On 10 October 2015 at 10:04 local time (EEST) in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, two bombs were detonated outside Ankara Central railway station. With a death toll of 109 civilians, the attack surpassed the 2013 Reyhanlı bombings as the deadliest terror attack in Turkish history. Another 500 people were injured. Censorship monitoring group Turkey Blocks identified nationwide slowing of social media services in the aftermath of the blasts, described by rights group Human Rights Watch as an "extrajudicial" measure to restrict independent media coverage of the incident.
2013 was the year in which the jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant adopted that name. The group expanded its territorial control in Syria and began to do so in Iraq also, and committed acts of terrorism in both countries and in Turkey.
The SDF insurgency in northern Syria is 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 Reyhanlı car bombing was a car bombing attack that occurred on 5 July 2019 in the city of Reyhanlı in Hatay Province, Turkey. The blast killed at least three people from Syria.
A truck bomb exploded outside a hospital on 15 September 2019 in al-Rai, Aleppo Governorate, Syria, killing 12 civilians.
In November 2019, six car bombings occurred in northern Syria. The bombings mostly happened in Tell Abyad and one in Al-Bab. The ISIL claimed responsibility for one, and the other five were alleged by Turkey to have been committed by the PKK.
The 2020 Afrin bombing was a truck bombing in the city of Afrin, Syria. The bombing occurred on 23 April 2020 and killing 53 people and injuring a least another 50.
The 2020 İskenderun shootout took place on 26 October 2020, when two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants fought the police in İskenderun, resulting in one of them being shot dead and the other one detonating explosives and killing himself.
