...adding that U.N. Security Council resolutions had recognized the annexation as null and void.

Trump’s announcement, in a midday Twitter post, came after persistent pressure from Mr. Netanyahu, a close political ally who is fighting for his survival in the election scheduled for April 9

...reversing decades-long American policy and violating a United Nations resolution.

“I was not consulted,” said U.S. General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. military’s Central Command

"Trump's order was reckless and driven far more by domestic political concerns than it was by facts on the ground"

On the same day that an ISIS-claimed attack killed US service members in Syria, Vice President Mike Pence declared that "the caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated."

...as part of his tour to reassure regional allies of the US' commitment to security and stability in the Middle East amid a shifting Syria strategy.

“We cannot accept Bolton’s messages given from Israel”

Speaking during a visit to Israel, Bolton introduced two new conditions for the U.S. troops withdrawal: The final defeat of Islamic State, and assurances from Turkey that U.S.-trained Kurdish fighters would be safe.

Trump, who has declared the battle won against the militants, [...] said Sunday that he remained committed to the withdrawal but told reporters: “I never said we’re doing it that quickly.”

Mattis told Pentagon employees to "keep the faith in our country" and McGurk wished his former colleagues well "as they work under extremely difficult circumstances to protect the interests of our great country.

It was also the first sign that President Trump’s abrupt announcement last week [...] was not only shifting alliances in the conflict but directly benefiting Mr. Assad

Pictures show Turkish armoured vehicles being sent to the border with Syria

Playing the blame game

“George W. Bush and Barack Obama knew and respected Brett and considered him one of their most important advisers,” [...] “and it’s very telling that Donald Trump claims to have never heard of him.”

The buildup comes even though Turkey said it would delay a promised offensive in eastern Syria in the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops

McGurk [...] had been planning to exit his post in February 2019. But [...] he will accelerate his departure due to a strong disagreement with President Trump's snap decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria

You were wrong. This week proves it. Assuming you haven’t departed the administration already, now would be the time for you to go.

“You know what? It’s yours,” Trump said of Syria. “I’m leaving.”

The Foreign Relations chairman said the U.S. was weeks away from launching a ‘major clearing operation’ in the Euphrates River Valley when Trump decided to withdraw from Syria.

Planning is underway for a "full" and "rapid" withdrawal of US troops from Syria

Both Syria and its Russian allies say shells carrying toxic gas injured about 100 people late on Saturday.

The new actions target Syrian national Mohammad Amer Alchwiki and his Russia-based company, Global Vision Group, along with seven other entities

Russia laid the blame squarely on Israel, saying Israeli fighter jets had pushed the Russian plane into the line of Syria's fire.

...after a Russian plane was shot down by Syrian forces amid an Israeli air raid.

Russia has begun laying the groundwork for an online influence operation aimed at turning U.S. public opinion against such a strike.

Russia sailed a small armada of its navy ships into the Mediterranean and has signaled that it would retaliate against the US if there was a strike.

Even President Donald Trump is worried about the likely humanitarian catastrophe.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Monday it had noticed Washington was building up its military forces in the Middle East in preparation for what Moscow feared was a possible strike on Syrian government forces

As with the money for Syria, the administration intends to redirect the funds intended for Palestinians to higher-priority projects elsewhere

One of the main deals announced between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at their summit last week in Helsinki -- coordinated steps to help stabilize the situation in Syria -- is already running into trouble.

..the US is now the third deadliest country for journalists in 2018, behind only Afghanistan [...] and Syria

“I could say ‘Would you do me a favor? Would you get out of Syria?’ ‘Would you do me a favor, would you get out of Ukraine? You shouldn’t be there. Just come on,” he said.

The firefight was described by the Pentagon as an act of self-defense against a unit of pro-Syrian government forces.

Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria overnight ... following soon after what the Israeli military described as an unsuccessful Iranian rocket attack against its forces in the Golan Heights.

A missile attack targeting government outposts in Syria's northern region killed 26 pro-government fighters, mostly Iranians

Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that the U.S. sought out and respected Moscow’s positions in Syria when it launched its air strikes last week.

Multiple Israeli government and military sources suggested the strike was not effective in hurting Syria's ability to conduct chemical attacks.

That’s a phrase presidents and politicians have studiously avoided since President George W. Bush’s ill-fated aircraft carrier visit prematurely declaring success in the Iraq war.

What makes Trump’s actions new, according to several legal experts I spoke with, is that previous presidents appear to have always made public their legal justification for any overt military action on a significant scale. No matter how shoddy their explanations were, this at least made debate possible.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said they did little damage. In a statement the ministry said that of 103 cruise missiles fired in the U.S.-led airstrike, 71 were shot down by Syria’s Soviet-made air-defense systems. The intercepted missiles included all 12 of those bound for the Al-Dumayr military airfield near Damascus, where the chemical attack that triggered the crisis was allegedly launched.

...but acknowledged that the Syrian government most likely retained some ability to again attack its own people with chemical agents.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, accused Russia of lying and covering up for its ally, the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

“We had an early warning of the strike from the Russians ... and all military bases were evacuated a few days ago,” the official said. Around 30 missiles were fired in the attack, and a third of them were shot down, the official said.

The strikes risked pulling the United States deeper into the complex, multi-sided war in Syria from which Mr. Trump only last week said he wanted to withdraw.

Trump announced "precision strikes" against chemical weapons targets in Syria in a televised address on Friday night, announcing a joint operation is underway with armed forces from France and the United Kingdom.

During a press briefing on Friday, Mr Lavrov said he had "irrefutable evidence" that the attack was staged as part of a "Russophobic campaign" led by one country, which he did not name.

Standing in front of a mushroom cloud, a presenter on state-run broadcaster Vesti 24 warned viewers to stock up on “fewer sweets and more water.”

The confession came as a kind of side thought to his larger point, which is that his presidency is “very calm and calculated.” Because obviously.

Trump’s goading of Moscow was an apparent response to a warning from a Russian diplomat Tuesday that Russia would shoot down any U.S. missiles fired into Syria in retaliation for Saturday’s alleged attack by the Assad regime.

Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon said any U.S. missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted, a step that could trigger a major escalation in the Syrian war.

Trump asked that Vice President Mike Pence attend the meeting of the leaders of countries in the Western Hemisphere in his place.

“Russia could stop this senseless slaughter if it wanted, but it stands with the Assad regime and supports without any hesitation.”

A missile strike on an air base in central Syria was carried out by Israeli warplanes in the early hours of Monday morning causing multiple casualties

His homeland security adviser, Thomas P. Bossert, said the White House national security team had been discussing possible responses and would not rule out a missile strike.

But the president said that the U.S. mission would not extend beyond the destruction of the Islamic State, and that he expects other countries, particularly wealthy Arab states in the region, to pick up the task of paying for ongoing stabilization and reconstruction

Trump announced he wants U.S. troops out of the country “very soon.”

The takeover dealt a blow to Kurdish aspirations for self-administration there and added to Turkey’s growing footprint in the country.

The threat ... was widely reported by Russia media sites such as state news agency RIA and Tass. It said Gerasimov said Russia had "reliable information" about militants preparing to falsify a government chemical attack against civilians.

The plane was not fired upon, the ministry says, and preliminary data suggests a technical malfunction could have caused the crash.

The crisis erupted shortly after the U.S.-led coalition suggested days later that it was forming a 30,000-strong border security force to be maintained by the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces. Turkey vowed to crush the "terror army" and rallied its Free Syrian Army allies to launch the so-called "Operation Olive Branch" that, despite fierce resistance, has made slow gains in Afrin over the past month.

After the November, 2015 Paris attacks, Pence issued a directive that prevented state agencies from giving federal assistance funds to refugee agencies helping Syrians, citing national security concerns.

The supplies from North Korea include acid-resistant tiles, valves and thermometers, according to a report by United Nations investigators. North Korean missile technicians have also been spotted working at known chemical weapons and missile facilities inside Syria

And it’s not the first time the Russian government has inserted video-game footage to purportedly show combat in Syria.

In intercepted communications in late January, the oligarch, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, told a senior Syrian official that he had “secured permission” from an unspecified Russian minister to move forward with a “fast and strong” initiative that would take place in early February.

Moscow and American officials were quick to clarify that those killed in the Feb. 7 incident were private Russian mercenaries and there was no risk of “direct conflict between United States and Russian forces.”

But as the rebels have lost ground and no clear threats to Mr. Assad’s rule remain, Iran and its allies have stayed, shifting their focus to creating an infrastructure to threaten Israel, analysts say.

The F-16, one of at least eight Israeli planes despatched in response to what Israel said was an Iranian drone’s incursion into its airspace earlier in the day, was hit by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile and crashed in northern Israel

U.S. forces targeted the pro-government troops with airstrikes and artillery after they launched an attack against a base belonging to the U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour

Turkish troops shelled Kurdish militia forces based in an enclave in northern Syria Friday, as Turkey defied U.S. calls for restraint and warned that the bombardment signaled the opening stage of an outright invasion.

Key powers involved in Syria's civil war have criticised US plans to help an allied Kurdish-led militia set up a 30,000-strong "border security force".

A series of mysterious attacks against the main Russian military base in Syria, including one conducted by a swarm of armed miniature drones, has exposed Russia’s continued vulnerability in the country

...the air strikes targeted Syrian army and Hezbollah weapons depots, igniting "successive explosions and fires, causing material damage".

Their message has been the same: If America’s friends in the region aspire for enhanced security, they’d best not wait for the White House to provide it. And if recent events offer any indication, the message has been received loud and clear.

"President Trump and President Putin today, meeting on the margins of the APEC conference in Da Nang, Vietnam, confirmed their determination to defeat ISIS in Syria"

The US was among the first to sign the deal and put it into action under former President Barack Obama's executive order, which bypassed climate change deniers in Congress. But his executive action meant the Paris accord was not a legally binding treaty for the US, and paved the way for Mr Trump to withdraw.

Russia’s military fired seven cruise missiles Thursday at Islamic State targets in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour

Because Syrian troops are now in control of the area, the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State agreed to a Russian request to halt the surveillance, in the interests of deconflicting the rival Russian- and U.S.-backed efforts to defeat the militants

Trump appeared to be referring to a Post story last week on the phasing out of a covert Obama administration program in which the CIA armed and trained moderate Syrian rebels battling forces loyal to Assad in the country’s civil war. The Post reported that the Russian government had long opposed the program, seeing it as an assault on its interests.

Anadolu Agency published a map Wednesday showing 10 locations where it says U.S. troops are located. The posts span a stretch of northern Syria controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces that the U.S. supports but Turkey considers terrorists.

With the end of the CIA program, U.S. involvement in Syria now consists of a vigorous air campaign against the Islamic State and a Pentagon-run train-and-equip program

The agreement came after months of negotiations among the three countries.

Mattis said it appeared that Mr. Assad “took the warning seriously.” He declined to say whether preparations that were noted in Mr. Trump’s statement had ended. But he repeatedly noted the lack of a chemical weapons attack in the two days since the White House issued its warning.

...it has evidence that Syria is preparing to launch another chemical attack and warned that it will “pay a heavy price” for doing so.

...threatening to target aircraft flown by the United States and its allies over Syria.

Iran fired missiles on Sunday into eastern Syria, aiming at the bases of militant groups it holds responsible for attacks in Tehran which left 18 dead last week

The U.S. military says it shot down a Syrian air force jet that dropped bombs near U.S.-backed forces

American warplanes in Syria attacked a pro-government convoy on Thursday after it ignored warnings and violated a restricted zone

The Syrian government forcefully rejected on Tuesday accusations by the United States that the bodies of thousands of political prisoners had been disposed of in a crematory at a prison near Damascus

The fact that Trump chose the least aggressive option available suggests that the principal audience for the strikes was not in Damascus or Moscow, but in the United States.

"Our impression is that the West, mainly the United States, is hand-in-glove with the terrorists. They fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack," Assad told AFP

Inside Russia, all state-run media outlets and many independent ones are emphasizing that the Trump administration has wrongfully (or at least prematurely) condemned Assad for being behind the April 4 attack

"One could say that the level of trust on a working level, especially on the military level, has not improved, but rather has deteriorated."

Russia can be a part of the discussions “and play an important role,” Mr. Tillerson said

“Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence. I’m sure she said ‘listen, this is horrible stuff.’ My father will act in times like that,” Eric Trump told The Telegraph.

But Americans were even more emphatic about what they don't want to see next: any other unilateral strikes authorized by Trump or further involvement, period.

The reality is that there were continued chemical-weapons attacks by Syria — and that U.S. and international officials had good evidence that Syria had not been completely forthcoming

...the overall tone of suspicion and condemnation of Russia’s actions in Syria indicated that Mr. Trump’s top national security advisers were nudging him back to a more traditional Russia policy.

The decision to carry out strikes against the regime and the change in tone from Haley follows Trump's comments that the chemical attack "crossed a lot of lines for me."

Russian forces coordinate all aspects of Syrian air power and airstrikes.

It wasn't clear where the strikes were launched from, but he Syrian air force resumed flight operations at the base that the US had struck Friday

The cruise missiles struck, and many in the mainstream media fawned.

One of the most prominent was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who on Friday tweeted out his support for Trump's strike

The president, they said, was a visual and auditory learner. Would the briefers please cut down on the number of words in the daily briefing book and instead use more graphics and pictures?

“This act of war on the part of the United States leaves us no choice but to strike Syrian hospitals, schools, and places of worship with even more force and resolve.”

When the missiles landed Thursday night, the two presidents had spent almost four hours together, with the Chinese officials unaware that Trump was launching the attack

“If we learn that any remnants of this scandal remain after this attack, I will not hesitate to order further strikes.”

In addition to its nationalist, anti-interventionist and anti-“globalist” views, the alt-right and its fellow travelers have also displayed a marked affinity for Syria’s ally Russia

In addition to suspending the pact to coordinate air operations over Syria, an accord that was meant to prevent accidental encounters between the two militaries, Russia also said it would bolster Syria’s air defense systems

The missile strikes, which appeared more symbolically punitive than realistically damaging to Assad’s government, potentially exposed U.S. forces and proxies across the region to retaliation by Syrian allies including Iran.

“Again, to our very foolish leader, do not attack Syria – if you do many very bad things will happen and from that fight the US gets nothing!” wrote Mr Trump in capital letters on 5 September 2013.

...the missile attack damaged over a dozen hangars, a fuel depot and an air defense base.

If U.S. aircraft were shot down or forced to fire back at the Syrian and Russian radar, the United States could get pulled into the middle of Syria’s messy civil war.

"I really believe that we should have and still should take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them."

The U.S. military launched approximately 50 cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield late on Thursday

According to both U.S. military officials, the current proposal would likely result in Russian military deaths and mark a drastic escalation of U.S. force in Syria.

Haley called the attack a “disgrace at the highest level.” It’s a “new low” for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, she said, as well as an “assurance that humanity means nothing to the Syrian government.”

Trump ... said the chemical attack against Syrian civilians "crossed a lot of lines for me" and changed the way he views Syria and leader Bashar al-Assad.

Trump repeatedly urged Obama not to intervene in the Syrian civil war in 2013 on Twitter.

Republican Sen. John McCain told CNN's Alisyn Camerota there was more than enough blame to go around for Obama and Trump.

Dozens of people, including children, died — some writhing, choking, gasping or foaming at the mouth — after breathing in poison that possibly contained a nerve agent or other banned chemicals, according to witnesses, doctors and rescue workers.

The source stressed that what had been described to him was still draft information and could change.

Until now, only small teams made up largely of Special Operations forces have operated in Syria, providing training and assistance to anti-ISIS opposition groups on the ground.