Kurds

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 29: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Alternate crop) U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago club on December 29, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. The two leaders are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting to discuss regional security in the Middle East as well as the U.S.-Israel partnership. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Trump 'hit the brakes': Netanyahu's circle faults US president for failed Iran regime change, looming deal

With regime in Iran still standing and a possible US-Iran agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands to pay the ultimate political price as elections near in Israel.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

An undated image of Foza Yusif.

Interview

Top Syrian Kurdish official slams parliamentary vote in northeast as 'undemocratic'

Foza Yusuf, a senior figure in Syria’s Kurdish-led autonomous administration, said the May 24 parliamentary vote was structured to disadvantage Kurdish parties.

Foza Yusuf

Foza Yusuf

Top Syrian Kurdish official

Mazloum Kobane, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during the pan-Kurdish "Unity and Consensus" conference in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 26, 2025.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander Kobane says Turkey visit ‘in the making,’ Ocalan meeting possible

The SDF commander-in-chief reflected on a fragile integration deal with Damascus, growing Kurdish backlash and ongoing talks with Turkey as questions mount over Rojava’s political future.

Mazloum Kobane

Mazloum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

Turkish Red Crescent's cars and trucks cross the Turkish border as they leave the Syrian city of Tel Abyad on Oct. 19, 2019, in Akcakale, Turkey.

Turkey's border reopening unlocks new sphere of influence in Syria

Turkey reopened the Akcakale-Tell Abyad crossing on Monday, ending an 11-year closure along the Syria border.

Latest News

How Syria's border opening with Iraq redefines Turkey-Kurd balance

Members of Iraq's security forces stand guard on the the al-Rabia border crossing with Syria on April 20, 2026.

Analysis

Is Syria’s Sharaa poised to outdo Turkey in formalizing gains for Kurds?

Kurdish people waving Kurdistan flags gather to celebrate Nowruz on the hill of Urkesh in the countryside of Amuda in northeastern Syria on March 18, 2026. Nowruz, meaning "new day," is an ancient festival that marks the start of spring and the new year on the vernal equinox, which usually falls on March 20 or 21. It is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide and has been observed for over 3,000 years across regions including the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Eastern Euro

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Interview

Despite Trump’s U-turns, US may still support Iran’s Kurds, says Komala’s Mohtadi

A armed Kurdish Peshmerga of the Komala party waves the Komala flag in a ceremony held in memory of Komala Martyrs' Day in Sidakan, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, on March 17, 2021.

Abdulla Mohtadi

Abdulla Mohtadi

Leader of Komala

Analysis

Inside Turkey’s role in the US-Iran ceasefire

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) walks with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif upon his arrival during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey on June 1, 2022. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Mourners carry the coffins of two Kurdish women killed a day earlier in a reported Turkish drone strike, during their funeral in Amuda, a town in the Hasakah governorate in northeastern Syria, on June 21, 2023.

With world's eyes on Gaza, Turkey attacks Syria's Kurds again

As of the beginning of 2023, at least 32 civilians have died in Turkish attacks in northeast Syria, including seven women and five children, according to local monitoring organizations.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Iran-backed militias test new front with Washington’s Syrian Kurdish allies

A US base in northeast Syria has been attacked twice so far by rockets launched in the last month from within the country, and officials with the Syrian Defense Forces point to Iran-backed Shiite militias.

Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah, in the province of the same name, on Jan. 24, 2019.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander: 'We don’t want to become battleground between US, Iran'

Mazlum Kobane also revealed that the Iran-backed groups had begun to target SDF military positions.

Mazlum Kobane

Mazlum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein talks to the press during a EU-Iraq Cooperation Council, at the European Council Building in Brussels on March 19, 2023.

Iraqi FM says unless US stops Israel, conflict in Gaza will 'burn all of us'

Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein worries that the conflict in Gaza will drag on and expand beyond Israel’s borders.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of war crimes as Erdogan vows escalation

Syria’s Kurds say Turkish forces are committing war crimes as Erdogan escalates against the US-Allied Syrian Democratic Forces.

- A man prepares to ride a motorcycle close to a fire raging at the Zarba oil facility in al-Qahtaniyah in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border on October 5, 2023. Turkish strikes on October 5 on the Kurdish-controlled region of Hasakeh in northeastern Syria hit a car, killing two people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, after Ankara had threatened raids in retaliation for a bomb attack. In another strike, "Turkish drones targeted a factory north of Hasakeh, injuring three workers", s

Turkey expands strikes as Fidan, Blinken discuss deconfliction, 'terrorist threats'

The US readout of a call between the top US and Turkish diplomats stressed the two countries share a common objective of defeating terror.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan looks on during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly at the Lotte Palace Hotel in New York on September 22, 2023. (Photo by BING GUAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by BING GUAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey's Fidan declares all PKK, YPG facilities in Syria, Iraq 'legitimate targets'

High-level and open threats by Turkey have ramped up fears of a fresh escalation in northern Syria between Turkish forces and Syrian Kurdish groups that Ankara deems terrorists.

A security forces member looks on during the burial of one of three Kurdish counterterrorism officers killed the previous day in a strike by a drone that had reportedly originated in Turkey, in the city of Sulaimaniyah in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq on September 19, 2023. A senior military official in Baghdad said on September 19 that three members of the counterterrorism forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region were killed and three wounded in the strike on Arbat airfield, southeast of

Turkey expands crackdown, airstrikes against PKK as Erdogan lashes out at West

The Turkish Defense Ministry said 16 new targets, including caves, bunkers and warehouses in the northern Iraqi regions of Metina, Hakurk, Gara, Qandil and Assos, were destroyed in the strikes.

A US AH-64 Apache attack helicopter flies above US soldiers patrolling along the frontlines.

US captures Islamic State official in Syria as fighting renews among allies

The US military said it captured a senior IS official in Syria on Saturday, as renewed fighting Monday between Kurdish-led forces and Arab tribes in Deir Ezzor raised new questions as to the open-ended nature of the US mission.

A security guard is seen at the Iran-Iraq border crossing of Haji Omran on Jan. 3, 2018.

Iran demands Iraq disarm Kurdish opposition as deadline expires

An agreement between Tehran and Baghdad stipulated that Iraqi authorities would disarm and relocate the Kurdish opposition groups along the Iranian border.

Iranian refugees and Iranians living in Greece wave a Kurdish flag while singing the Iranian protest song of Shervin Hajipour during a demonstration to commemorate 40 days from the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini while in police custody in Iran, in central Athens on Oct. 29, 2022.

A year since Mahsa Amini’s killing, Iran’s Kurds brace for renewed crackdown

The Kurdish twist to Iran's grassroots civic uprising cutting across ethnic, sectarian and gender lines served the regime well in its crackdown.

Kirkuk

Explainer: Why Iraq's Kirkuk has reached brink of conflict

Tensions flare up in Kirkuk ahead of provincial elections in December amid Arab and Turkmen fears of renewed Kurdish control of the oil-rich city.