A representative for the Syrian Kurdish militia and political community in northern Syria rejected the idea of a Turkish-run “safe zone” in the region on Tuesday following U.S. troop departures, instead suggesting the United Nations should play a role.
The ardently pro-Turkish government newspaper Yeni Safak reported Monday that Ankara has prepared 80,000 troops to invade the Kurdish region of northern Syria in anticipation of the United States’ withdrawal from the area.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan penned a New York Times opinion column published Monday in which he offered Turkey’s guidance in rebuilding the government of northern Syria without the presence of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), America’s closest battlefield ally in the country.
Kurdish news agencies report on Friday that a map of greater Kurdistan – featuring territory belonging to Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria – no longer appears on Google Earth, replaced by a message stating that the map violated “our Terms of Service and/or policies.”
Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority [BTK], an agency overseeing mass media, confronted Google about the presence of a map detailing the borders of “Kurdistan” including Turkish territory, reports revealed on Tuesday.
Dramatic developments over recent days appear to mark a turning point for the U.S. and allies in the war on the Islamic State (ISIS) — almost certainly a drastic turn for the worst.
An “expert” quoted in Chinese state media Friday suggested that the U.S. presence in Syria was the only thing keeping the war from ending and that the distinct possibility now exists for the Syrian Civil War to become history.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on Thursday for deciding to withdraw American troops from the battlefield in Syria, alleging that the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group has been defeated and thus there is no compelling reason for American military action there.
Turkey is “ready” to “trample” U.S.-backed Kurds in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Tuesday.
A deadly attack on Syrian Kurdish forces launched by the Islamic State (ISIS) over the weekend has prompted the U.S.-backed fighters to step up its fight against the jihadist group, Reuters reported Monday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed threats on Friday to expand his country’s military operations into northern Syrian territory controlled by the U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters.
The Trump administration is “now driving to make sure” America’s “great partners” in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), the Syrian Kurds, participate in discussions to determine the future of Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this week.
The agreement between Turkey and the United States to push U.S.-allied Kurdish militiamen out of Syria’s Manbij region is delayed, “but not completely dead,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday.
Iranian authorities executed a former child bride this week on charges of murdering her abusive husband after she gave a false confession under torture, according to reports.
Turkey intends to completely clear northern Syria of Kurdish militiamen from the U.S.-allied People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), considered by Ankara to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) terrorist group, Turkish officials indicated this week.
Syrian rebels pushed out of the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus by the Russian and Iranian-backed forces loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad are “reorganizing and rearming” to fight regime troops and a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia, a Turkey-allied opposition group commander told Reuters this week.
Turkish authorities continue to arrest members of the U.S.-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) for responding to Ankara’s invasion of the predominantly Kurdish city of Afrin in northern Syria.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference in New York Wednesday, President Donald Trump responded from questions from multiple Kurdish reporters, who sought details in how the Trump administration would help Kurdish governments in Iraq and Syria protect themselves from radical Islamic groups and hostile neighbors.
Iranian Kurdish insurgents reportedly vowed this week to intensify their fight against Iran in response to the missile attacks against Kurdish positions in Iraqi Kurdistan claimed by the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) this month.
Iraq needs up to $100 billion to rebuild the city of Mosul alone following the devastation at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against the jihadi group told reporters on Tuesday.
Pro-Kurdish protesters attacked Iran’s embassy in Paris on Friday. Iran says that 15 Kurdish activists burned the Iranian flag in front of the embassy.
A representative for one of the two Iranian Kurdish parties operating in Iraq who the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bombed this week urged the United States on Wednesday to intervene and support their right to exist freely.
CONTENTS: In a major escalation, Iran’s missiles strike Kurdish targets in northern Iraq; Iran’s missile attack displays the rising power of the IRGC in Iran.
Human trafficking, a form of modern slavery, has existed for thousands of years and is still a serious problem in many countries throughout the world, particularly with the resurgence of extremist groups like the Islamic State. This year’s Trafficking in Person’s (TIP) report, released by the State Department, is arguably stronger than it has been in previous years and is providing renewed hope for non-profits that are seeking to end these heinous crimes against humanity.
The Islamic State has begun exacerbating concerns about the availability of electricity in Iraq by targeting power plants and other key infrastructure for destruction. Baghdad announced on Sunday that unspecified “terrorist groups,” which observing media identify as the Islamic State, blew up a power plant in Kirkuk.
Kurdish residents of a town near northeastern Khanaqin, Iraq, evacuated their 12-home village following a wave of killings in the area carried out by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), the Kurdish outlet Rudaw reported on Wednesday.
Turkish-backed paramilitary groups, working with the Syrian rebel Ahrar al-Sham militia, have reportedly taken to attacking and torturing Kurdish civilians in northern Afrin, Syria, witnesses alleged this week.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq thanked Japan on Wednesday for helping the Kurdistan region solve a major problem it had with electricity shortages by signing a ten-year, nearly $120 million contract.
The Shiite-led Iraqi government is trying to force a demographic change in 500 Kurdish villages across northern Iraq’s disputed Kirkuk province, arming and resettling thousands of Shiite Arabs in the region, a Kurdish mayor reportedly claimed this week.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) killed the head of a village and three farmers in the most recent attacks in northern Iraq’s Kirkuk province, a testament to the menace posed by the jihadist organization six months after Baghdad declared final victory over it, Kurdistan 24 learned from an anonymous source this week.
The government of Turkey issued a blanket decree Sunday firing 18,632 state employees for unspecified “links with terror groups” and has increased the number of arrests for “insulting the president” ahead of the inauguration of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Monday.
The prime minister of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) congratulated Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday for his re-election victory, saying the ties between Ankara and Erbil had improved under the Turkish leader’s watch.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech Monday marking his victory in a landmark election that granted him sweeping new executive powers, pledged to continue Ankara’s military offensive to remove the U.S.-allied Kurds from power in northern Syria.
The Turkish military announced Monday that Turkish soldiers, accompanied by American counterparts, began “independent patrols” in Manbij, Syrian Kurdistan, where Ankara spent months threatening an invasion against local Kurdish forces.
A report published Thursday alleges that Turkey-backed fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seizing, looting, and destroying property in the predominantly Kurdish region of Afrin, further fueling fears that Ankara is quietly forcing a demographic change along its border with Syria.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the United States, reportedly expressed a desire this week to negotiate the future of the swathes of territory it controls in northern Syria with the Iranian- and Russian-backed regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) confirmed on Tuesday that it reached an agreement with Turkey to pull the American-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), deemed “terrorists’ by Ankara, from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, arguing that the move will “reduce tensions.”
Turkey has launched a major military surge against the terrorist Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, where Ankara has already set up 11 regional bases and doubled its military footprint, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim declared over the weekend.
Contents: Syria’s al-Assad makes delusional threats to US military; Israel and Russia reach agreement to keep Iran out of Syria’s south
The Trump administration this week refuted news reports claiming the U.S. had reached an agreement with Turkey on a plan for the withdrawal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Syria’s Manbij.
