The Turkish military killed 21 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and Iraq, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must disband and called on the US to stop supporting it.

In the past week, the Pentagon has acknowledged that its footprint in Iraq and Syria is bigger than it has claimed for years

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish militants in Syria will either lay down their weapons or "be buried", amid hostilities between Turkey-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month.

The number of US troops in Syria has regularly surged higher than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed since at least 2020, and in recent months increased to more than double the roughly 900 troops the US has long said are in Syria,

Follow the latest on Syria The newly appointed Foreign Minister in Syria's interim government, Asaad Hassan Al Shibani, warned Tehran not to spread chaos in Syria and to respect the country's sovereignty and its people's will as Syria moves towards a new chapter in its relations with Iran.

Daniel Sulaiman, 25, canceled his plans to return from Dubai to his Syrian hometown of Tartous to celebrate the first Christmas, following the ouster of the iron-fisted President Bashar al-Assad, with his loved ones.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised Friday to work with Iraq to ensure no resurgence of the Islamic State group after Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in neighbouring Syria.The Islamic State group (IS) overran large swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014,

The camps are run by the SDF. The United States backs the SDF, providing it with weapons and training, in an effort to combat the Islamic State. The Pentagon disclosed this month that there are about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, as part of an effort to contain regrouping Islamic State remnants.

Blinken said he spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani about the situation in Syria after the Assad regime's fall.

Assad, old alliances have crumbled, and global powers are figuring out their relationships with Syria’s new de facto leaders.

Assad’s ouster has raised urgent questions about the 2,000 troops who serve as a bulwark against ISIS and Iran.