diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 8e8fb5782..934d9ef7b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ matrix:
       php: '7.0'
     - env: CHECK=phpcs
       php: '5.6'
+    - env: CHECK=syntax
+      php: 'nightly'
+    - env: CHECK=syntax
+      php: '7.3'
+    - env: CHECK=syntax
+      php: '7.0'
+    - env: CHECK=syntax
+      php: '5.6'
   allow_failures:
     - php: nightly
 
@@ -52,3 +60,4 @@ script:
   # also see: modules/test/application/clicommands/PhpCommand.php
   - 'if [ "$CHECK" = phpcs ]; then php phpcs.phar; fi'
   - 'if [ "$CHECK" = phpunit ]; then php phpunit.phar -c modules/test/phpunit.xml --verbose; fi'
+  - 'if [ "$CHECK" = syntax ]; then php test/check-syntax.php -e "^(\./)?vendor/" -e Icinga/Util/String.php; fi'
diff --git a/phpcs.xml b/phpcs.xml
index e04ad72f8..3a33b6e38 100644
--- a/phpcs.xml
+++ b/phpcs.xml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
     <file>test/</file>
 
     <exclude-pattern>vendor/*</exclude-pattern>
+    <exclude-pattern>test/*.php</exclude-pattern>
     <exclude-pattern>application/fonts/fontello-ifont/*</exclude-pattern>
 
     <arg value="wps"/>
diff --git a/test/check-syntax.php b/test/check-syntax.php
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b8f4afd66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/check-syntax.php
@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env php
+<?php
+
+function findPhpFiles($dir, &$files = [])
+{
+    if (substr($dir, -1, 1) !== DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) {
+        $dir .= DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
+    }
+    if ($dh = opendir($dir)) {
+        while (($name = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
+            $path = $dir . $name;
+
+            if (substr($name, 0, 1) === '.') {
+                continue;
+            } elseif (is_file($path) && preg_match('~\.ph(p|tml)$~i', $path)) {
+                $files[] = $path;
+            } elseif (is_dir($path)) {
+                findPhpFiles($path, $files);
+            }
+        }
+        closedir($dh);
+
+        return $files;
+    } else {
+        throw new Exception('Could not read directory: ' . $dir);
+    }
+}
+
+function stdout($t, $color = '32')
+{
+    if (posix_isatty(STDOUT) && $color) {
+        $t = "\e[${color}m" . $t . "\e[39m";
+    }
+    fwrite(STDOUT, $t);
+}
+
+function stderr($t)
+{
+    if (posix_isatty(STDERR)) {
+        $t = "\e[91m" . $t . "\e[39m";
+    }
+    fwrite(STDERR, $t);
+}
+
+function checkFile($path, &$errors)
+{
+    $escapedPath = escapeshellarg($path);
+    exec("php -l ${escapedPath} 2>&1 >/dev/null", $output, $rc);
+
+    if (! empty($output) || $rc != 0) {
+        stdout('E', '91');
+
+        foreach ($output as $line) {
+            // remove own name from text
+            $line = preg_replace('~ in ' . preg_quote($path) . '~i', '', $line);
+
+            $errors[$path][] = $line;
+        }
+    } else {
+        stdout('.');
+    }
+}
+
+function usage()
+{
+    printf("Usage: %s [--verbose] [--exclude file-regex] [path]\n\n", $_SERVER['argv'][0]);
+}
+
+function main($argv)
+{
+    $fileCount = 0;
+    $verbose = false;
+    $errors = [];
+    $excludes = [];
+    $searchPaths = [];
+
+    for ($i = 1; $i < count($argv); $i++) {
+        $arg = $argv[$i];
+        switch ($arg) {
+            case '-h':
+            case '--help':
+                usage();
+                return 1;
+            case '-v':
+            case '--verbose':
+                $verbose = true;
+                break;
+            case '-e':
+            case '--exclude':
+                $excludes[] = $argv[++$i];
+                break;
+            default:
+                if (substr($arg, 0, 1) === '-') {
+                    stderr("Unknown argument: $arg");
+                    return 1;
+                } else {
+                    $searchPaths[] = $arg;
+                }
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (empty($searchPaths)) {
+        $searchPaths = ['.'];
+    }
+
+    $files = [];
+    foreach ($searchPaths as $basePath) {
+        findPhpFiles($basePath, $files);
+    }
+
+    foreach ($files as $file) {
+        foreach ($excludes as $exclude) {
+            if (preg_match("~$exclude~", $file)) {
+                continue 2;
+            }
+        }
+
+        $fileCount++;
+
+        if ($verbose) {
+            printf("%s\n", $file);
+        }
+        checkFile($file, $errors);
+    }
+
+    $errorCount = count($errors);
+    if ($fileCount === 0) {
+        stderr("error: No files found!\n");
+        return 2;
+    } elseif ($errorCount > 0) {
+        stdout("\n");
+
+        foreach ($errors as $file => $errList) {
+            stderr("\n$file\n    " . join("\n    ", $errList) . "\n");
+        }
+
+        stderr(sprintf("\nFound syntax errors in %d of %d files! \n", $errorCount, $fileCount));
+        return 1;
+    } else {
+        stdout(sprintf("\n\nChecked %d files successfully! \n", $fileCount));
+        return 0;
+    }
+}
+
+exit(main($_SERVER['argv']));