Some say they're former opposition fighters, others say they're refugees looking for a paycheck. One thing is clear: Turkey's Syrian mercenaries have formed an integral part of the country's foreign policy ambitions.

Five years ago, as more and more refugees were coming to Germany, Chancellor Merkel promised "We can do it!" For the Jaafar family, this claim has become a mission.

The Israeli army said it targeted four 'terrorists' who were placing explosives along the frontier with Syria on Golan Heights. The incident comes amid heightened tensions on Israel's border with Syria and Lebanon.

Syria's Baath party and its allies have won a majority in parliamentary elections that were delayed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic. The exiled opposition labeled the vote a "farce."

After a one-week deadlock between Western countries and Russia and China, the UN Security Council voted to restart cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria, but with only a single access point into the war-torn country.

Germany pledged €1.58 billion ($1.78 billion) for Syria at a conference hosted by the EU and the UN. While the event raised a total of $7.7 billion, charity association Oxfam said the sum was "simply not enough."

Italian police released video of a seizure of a 14-tonne haul of amphetamines made by the Islamic State group in Syria, calling it the biggest seizure of such drugs in the world.

From Syrian war crimes to US hypocrisy in the Julian Assange case, the global "erosion of human rights standards" is of critical concern, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer tells DW.

French authorities have seized €90 million of real estate from Rifaat Assad and sentenced him to four years in jail. The court found he stole vast sums from the Syrian public purse and laundered it across Europe.

For the first time anywhere, Syrian intelligence officers are facing trial — in Germany. The court aims to probe the defendant's alleged crimes as well as cast light on Bashar Assad's system of torture and oppression.

To the south, Syria and Idlib province where Ankara says it is now directly targeting pro-Assad forces after last week's killing in an air strike of 34 Turkish soldiers. With Russia backing Damascus in its bid to retake the last-rebel held enclave in Syria, we ask just how far it can escalate between now and Thursday's planned trip by Turkey's President to Moscow.

The number of those displaced due to the conflict in the region is now believed to be 900,000. The UN's Relief Chief said "individual interests" need to be dropped to aid the humanitarian operation.