Kurds

A picture taken on Oct. 17, 2017, shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multiethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Exclusive

Iraq seeks more compensation from Turkey, 'blocks' reopening of Kurds' oil pipeline

Disputes over oil revenues and arbitration claims have kept the Kurdish pipeline closed.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

An Israeli soldier checks a Merkava battle tank deployed at a position in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights along the border with southern Syria on March 25, 2025. Israel's military said it carried out a second strike in Syria on March 25, in response to incoming fire from across the demarcation line, hours after Syrian authorities reported that at least five people had been killed as a result of Israeli shelling. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Are Lebanon, Syria ripe for peace with Israel or on cusp of more escalation?

While some Israeli leaders hope for normalized ties with Lebanon and Syria, others warn that the uncertainty of the current situation could become permanent or deteriorate.

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

Urmia

Analysis

How unrest in Iran's Urmia exposes deep-seated ethnic fault lines

The situation escalated as stick-wielding government loyalists chanted inflammatory slogans against Sunni Kurds, whose cultural celebrations coincided with a key Shiite mourning ritual.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Fidan Syria

Analysis

Turkey, alarmed by sectarian clashes, steps up Syria role, criticizes Iran

As last week’s bloody clashes in Syria have deepened divisions among Turkish experts over the country's future, Turkey’s priorities in Syria remain focused on countering the SDF and combating ISIS.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Turkey’s Erdogan says he's ready to meet with Kurds brokering peace with PKK

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he addresses a speech during the Justice and Development Party (AKP), as part of the 8th Ordinary Grand Congress at the Ankara Arena in Ankara, on Feb. 23, 2025.

Analysis

Syria’s Kurds win big as Sharaa shakes hands with Kobane to save his own skin

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and SDF leader Mazloum Kobane sign an agreement in Damascus on March 10, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

Iran spooked by Turkey’s overtures to Kurds, rising role in Syria, Iraq

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) meets with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) in Tehran, on July 19, 2022.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

In Paris, reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

As it courts Syria's Druze, will Israel counter Turkey or get cold shoulder?

Ultraorthodox Jewish men speak to soldiers standing on an armored personnel carrier in the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, Feb. 27, 2025.

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

Turkey’s Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Ibrahim Kalin, head of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency, met in Ankara on March 11, 2024.

Three top Turkey officials to visit Iraq as Erdogan threatens Kurdish militants

The officials’ visit signals a fresh drive to dial up pressure on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which Ankara accuses of collaborating with Kurdish militants.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with US national security advisor Jake Sullivan in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Jan. 16, 2024.

Iraq’s Sudani faces US pressure to fix problems with Kurds ahead of Washington visit

Resolving ongoing disputes between Baghdad and Erbil is a matter of priority for Washington.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (center left) meets with KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Feb. 29, 2024.

Analysis

Biden administration backs ‘resilient’ Iraqi Kurdistan Region

Visit of Iraqi Kurdistan PM Barzani to Washington a message to Baghdad and Iran.

Week in Review

Andrew Parasiliti

By Week in Review , Andrew Parasiliti

Members of the Khabour Guards (MNK) Assyrian Syrian militia, affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), walk in the ruins of the Assyrian Church of the Virgin Mary, which was previously destroyed by Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in the village of Tal Nasri south of the town of Tal Tamr in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Nov. 15, 2019.

Turkish strike kills 3 members of Kurdish-allied Christian force in northeast Syria

Wednesday's drone strikes are in line with Turkey’s ongoing campaign to degrade and destroy the SDF and the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria.

A civil defence team carries out search and rescue operations in a damaged building following a missile strike launched by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the Kurdistan region's capital of Arbil, on January 17, 2024. The IRGC have launched missile attacks on multiple "terrorist" targets in Syria and in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Iranian state media reported on January 16

Are Iran-backed militias turning their drones against Syria’s Kurds?

Syria’s Kurdish-led militia has increasingly found itself in the crosshairs of attacks by Iran-backed militias amid tit-for-tat strikes between US forces and Iran’s proxies.

Jared Szuba

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Salih Muslim, the diplomatic relations official for the Kurdish Movement for a Democratic Society, and the former co-chairman of the main Kurdish leftist Democratic Union Party (PYD), speaks during an interview in his office on August 2, 2018.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish leader Salih Muslim warns of 'forceful response' to Iran-linked attacks

Muslim's spoke to Al-Monitor two days after an attack on an SDF training camp in Deir Ezzor by Iran-backed militias left six dead.

Salih Muslim

Salih Muslim

PYD co-chairman

ILYAS AKENGIN/AFP via Getty Images

Kurds poised yet again to sway Istanbul race as Turkey's local polls approach

Control of Istanbul, Turkey's major seat of political power, is up for grabs as nationwide municipal elections approach.

Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand near a US Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) during a joint military exercise with forces of the US-led "Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve" coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group in the countryside of the town of al-Malikiya (Derik in Kurdish) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Sept. 7, 2022.

Pentagon floats plan for its Syrian Kurd allies to partner with Assad against ISIS

The proposal, which the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces denounced as a "rotten plan," comes as part of a renewed review of Syria policy by the US State Department.

SAFIN HAMID/AFP via Getty Images

Who is Peshraw Dizayee, Kurdish-Iraqi businessman killed in Iran's attack?

Iran claimed it targeted “spy bases” belonging to Israel’s spy agency in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, but several civilians were also killed in the strike.

Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) armed military personnel are monitoring an area while standing guard next to an Iranian Majid anti-aircraft missile system during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran.

Breaking | Last Updated: January 16, 2024, 8:18 am

Iran’s IRGC strikes 'spy centers' in Iraq with ballistic missiles

The IRGC also said it struck Syria in response to the recent ISIS attack in Iran.

Iraqi-Kurdish peshmerga officers.

US reduces peshmerga funding amid Iraqi Kurdish political tensions

The reduction comes as the KRG has already been struggling financially due to budget disputes with Baghdad, fluctuating oil prices, and the cost of hosting more than a million refugees and IDPs.

A military marching band plays outside during the first provincial council elections in a decade, at a polling station in the central city of Najaf, on December 18, 2023. The vote comes at a time of widespread disillusionment among the country's 43 million inhabitants, with endemic corruption eating away at the oil-rich nation. (Photo by Qassem al-KAABI / AFP) (Photo by QASSEM AL-KAABI/AFP via Getty Images)

2023 in review: Iraq's pro-Iran factions make gains, but so do Sunni groups

December's provincial elections across Iraq saw big gains for the ruling Coordination Framework and for the Sunni minority and Muhammad al-Halbousi list.