Month

Archives: Kurds

Trump sends US Troops to Patrol Turkish-Syrian Border as Ankara Threatens US Allies

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Only one fighting force in Syria is practically speaking taking on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on the ground, and that is the Syrian Democratic…

Kushner of Arabia: Can Trump’s Son-in-Law Figure out Iraq?

By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | - - Days before President Donald J. Trump ordered cruise missile strikes on Syria, his son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq to learn first-hand how the…

Has Trump deferred to Russia in Syria?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Elizabeth Palmer reported from Ankara last Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had difficult and inconclusive discussions with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan…

In Erdogan’s Turkey, an Artist is Jailed for Painting Reality

TeleSur | - - A Turkish court has handed down a two-year, nine-month and 22-day jail sentence to a Kurdish artist because of her painting of a Kurdish village being razed by…

Do Syria’s Kurds hold the Key to the future of the Middle East?

By Clemens Hoffmann and Can Cemgil | (The Conversation) | - - The Trump administration’s plans for the war against the so-called Islamic State (IS) are at last becoming clear. And it…

Trump sends heavier weapons to Leftist Syrian Kurds to Fight ISIL

TeleSur | - - A Syrian militia led by the Kurdish leftist group YPG said they received armored vehicles from the U.S. military, the first such support. The U.S. has boosted support…

Kurds Will Come Together to Discuss Independence With Baghdad

TeleSur | - - Kurdish independence “is a reality that will come true,” said Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq. Kurdish parties will meet with the Iraqi government…

Is Bruited Sec. of State Tillerson allied with Iran & at war with Iraq?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - A couple of years ago an oil tanker showed up off the Texas coast with cargo from Iraqi Kurdistan. The problem? Iraqi Kurdistan…

The Fate of Iraq’s Minorities After Mosul

By Tyler Fisher and Kamal Kolo | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | - - The liberation of Mosul offers the international community a unique opportunity to permit the region’s most vulnerable minorities to exercise…

Will Kurdish Soldiers Withdraw From Parts Of Mosul Their Leaders Covet?

By Histyar Qader | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | - - Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan have agreed where Kurdish military should fight. But, as commanders worry, there’s been no agreement as to how…

Will Turkey, Iran & Iraq make the Mosul Campaign a Land Grab?

By James Miller | ( RFE/RL ) | - - We may be witnessing the end of the extremist group, the [so-called] Islamic State [group] (IS), as we know it. Over the…

Russia and Turkey Make up: What implications for Syria, Kurds?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Turkey on Monday for direct talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, in a bid to further normalize…

As Truce Starts, Russia Tells Free Syrian Army to Stop Fighting Kurds

TeleSur | - - Moscow added it would continue its own air strikes against the Islamic State group and the militants formerly known as the Nusra Front Russia's Defense Ministry called on…

US: Turkish-backed campaign against our Allies in Syria ‘unacceptable’

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - On Sunday evening, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told a rally in Gaziantep, a city near the border with Syria, “We will make any…

America’s Syria SNAFU: Pentagon’s Militias fight Turkey & CIA’s Militias

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The Turkish incursion into Syria at Jarabulus was advertised as an attack on a Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) stronghold and smuggling station in conjunction…

US-Allied Kurds advance in Hasaka City, NE Syria

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Clashes continued on Sunday between the Kurdish YPG [People's Protection Units] and the Syrian Arab Army in Hasaka, according to the Egyptian press…

Kurdish Women Fighting ISIL Send Solidarity to BlackLivesMatter

TeleSur | - - "You are among the most radical voices in today's racist, sexist, capitalist world," the YPJ wrote to Black Lives Matter. Fighters from the Kurdish Women's Defense Units or…

Now Iran-Kurdish Tensions are Spiking; Why?

By Golnaz Esfandiari | ( RFE/RL) | - - Clashes erupted this month between Kurdish fighters and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), with each side claiming to have inflicted casualties on…

The rise and fall of Turkey’s progressive opposition

By Nick Ashdown | ( OpenDemocracy) | - - Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition party, the HDP roared into parliament on the back of a rainbow coalition of alienated progressives and minorities. Now, armed conflict…

As US/ Kurdish force Moves on ISIL at Manbij, Turkey goes Ballistic

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The left-leaning Beirut daily al-Safir (Ambassador) points out that less than two weeks after the Syrian Democratic Forces announced their campaign against al-Raqqa,…