In a far-reaching deal with the potential to unite Iraq in the face of a Sunni insurgency, the government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi agreed on Tuesday to a long-term pact with the autonomous Kurdish region over how to divide the country’s oil wealth and cooperate on fighting the extremists of the Islamic State. The […]
Kurds seize Islamic State arms and ammunition near Kobani
Kurdish fighters captured six buildings used by Islamic State fighters besieging the Syrian town of Kobani on Tuesday, and seized a large amount of the militant group’s weapons and ammunition, a group monitoring the war said. Islamic State has been trying to take control of the town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, for more than […]
angry Kurds rally in Paris over murder of 3 women activists
Thousands of angry demonstrators gathered in Paris Saturday to demand answers over the deaths of three Kurdish women activists found shot dead Thursday in mysterious circumstances. French police union spokesman Christophe Crepin said tensions were high at the protest
Iraq president hospitalized after suffering stroke
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who has mediated among the country’s Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish parties, was in hospital on Tuesday after suffering a stroke that left him in “critical but stable condition”, government sources said. Should Talabani be incapacitated, Iraq would lose an influential negotiator who often stepped in to ease tensions in […]
The fight for Syria won’t end with the fall of Assad regime
It was not the supposed imminent collapse of the Syrian regime that dominated the recent meeting of the Friends of Syria in Marrakech but the thorny subject of al-Nusra, one of the armed resistance groups operating in the country, which the US has just classified as a “foreign terrorist organisation”.
What Will Post-Assad Syria Look Like?
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has shown surprising staying power in the vicious civil war that’s been grinding on for nearly two years. One reason for its endurance is the contrast between its overwhelming advantage in firepower — which it has used with utter disregard for non-combatants’ lives — and numbers. By contrast, the disparate […]
Time for the U.S. to act to prevent breakdown of the M.E.
In this article a former U S secretary of State is urging the US to act quickly to hold the Middle east together and to rebuild it on a firmer foundation of tolerance, freedom and democracy before it disintegrates.
Kurds seize three towns in Syria’s northeast, report
KURDISH residents have taken control of three towns in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey after convincing pro-government forces to leave, a watchdog said. The region’s Hasakeh province has seen heavy fighting in recent days between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels, with 46 combatants killed in two days
Syria rebels take Turkish border town, Kurds alarmed
Free Syrian Army fighters captured a town on the Turkish border on Thursday in a push to seize control of frontier areas from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, a rebel commander and opposition sources said. Ten people were killed in clashes as rebels took Ras al-Ain, an Arab and Kurd town in the northeastern oil-producing province […]
Efforts underway to end clashes between Syria rebels,Kurds
Nearly a week of fighting between Kurds and Arab rebels in northern Syria risks opening a new front in the already bloody battle for control of the country, underscoring the complexity of a conflict that threatens to ignite sectarian and ethnic tensions across the region.