WOn October 26–27, 2019, the United States conducted Operation Kayla Mueller, a military operation named after Kayla Mueller, that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then-leader and self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist organization. The operation took place in the outskirts of Barisha, Idlib Governorate, Syria. According to General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) commander who oversaw the operation, Baghdadi killed himself along with two children when he detonated a suicide belt while seeking to evade the U.S. forces during the raid.
WThe 2019 northwestern Syria offensive, codenamed "Dawn of Idlib", was a military operation launched on 30 April 2019 by the Syrian Armed Forces and its allies against rebel groups in northwestern Syria during the Syrian Civil War in a region known as "Greater Idlib", consisting of northwest Hama, southern Idlib and northeastern Latakia provinces. The government's main objectives were to open the M5 highway and to expel non-compliant militant groups, particularly the internationally proscribed al-Qaeda-linked group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), from the 15–20 km demilitarized zone demarcated by Turkey and the Russian Federation at Sochi in 2018. The offensive was seen by both parties as crucial to the outcome of the war.
WThe 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-government forces clash with Turkish-backed opposition groups. The offensive displaced 980,000 civilians.
WThe Syrian Constitutional Committee is a United Nations-facilitated constituent assembly process that seeks to reconcile the Syrian Government headed by President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian opposition, in the context of the Syrian peace process, by amending the current or adopting a new Constitution of Syria. The UN hopes that this would lead to negotiations which would subsequently lead to a peaceful end of the Syrian Civil War, which had been raging for more than eight years by the time of the committee's formation. The Constitutional Committee was formed with the formal approval of both parties involved—namely the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic and the opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission, with the facilitation of the United Nations.
WThe Northern Syria Buffer Zone was a temporary Syrian Civil War demilitarized zone (DMZ) established on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Turkish border in August 2019 to maintain security along the border and to dissuade a prospective Turkish invasion of the self-proclaimed Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The DMZ was administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their military councils and enforced by United States Armed Forces and Turkish Armed Forces personnel.
WThe Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone, part of the Sochi Agreement, is a buffer zone in northern Syria between the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It was set up following a memorandum of understanding in the Russian city Sochi on 22 October 2019 by the Russian and Turkish presidents during the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria. Most of the zone is controlled by the Syrian Army and Russian Military Police, and some by the TAF.
WThe United States recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel through a presidential proclamation signed by U.S. president Donald Trump on March 25, 2019. The directive made the United States the first country to recognize Israeli rather than Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights region. The Golan Heights are widely viewed as Syrian territory under Israeli military occupation.