Turkish occupation of North Syria

Syrian Security Belt
Current situation in northern Syria   Ba'athist Syria   SDF   Islamic State   Syrian Opposition
Capital	Jarabulus
Largest city	al-Bab
Languages	Turkish Arabic Kurdish
Government	Military occupation
Areas under Safe Zone administration
• Intervention	24 August 2016
Currency	Syrian pound Turkish lira

The Turkish occupationof northern Syria, also known as the North Aleppo Border Pocket, the Northern Syria Security Belt, or the Safe Zone (Turkish: Güvenli Bölge), refers to areas captured since August 2016 by the Turkish military or Turkish-backed Syrian Turkmen and Arab forces during the Syrian Civil War. Turkish-occupied Syria consists of a 1,620 square kilometre area which includes around 217 settlements including al-Bab, Azaz, Dabiq and Jarabulus. This territory was previously controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Turkey and Syrian opposition proposed a safe zone that includes some regions of northern Syria in 2013, however United States and the other Western states was not willing to accept these plans. After the advancements of ISIL in Iraq, Turkey and United States negotiated 'safe zone', while USA accepted 'ISIL-free zone', US officials were reluctant to accept a no fly zone.

After the attacks of ISIL in Syrian Kurdistan, tens of thousands non-Sunnis, Christians and Yazidis fled to Turkey. In the beginning of 2015, refugees has begun to cross Turkish-Greek border and escaped to European countries. These huge refugee flows caused taking a re-consideration to create a safe zone for civilians in Syria. In February 2016, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel said, "In the current situation it would be helpful if there could be such an area where none of the parties are allowed to launch aerial attacks – that is to say, a kind of no-fly zone".