آمبرین زمان - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

آمبرین زمان

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Damascus, Aug. 3, 2026. IKRPresident/X

اجتماع رئيس كردستان العراق مع شارة الرئيس السوري يشير إلى تحول في ديناميكيات قوات سوريا الديمقراطية.

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Houthi soldiers stand guard on a missile carrier during an official military parade marking the ninth anniversary of the Houthi takeover of the capital, Sanaa, on Sept. 21, 2023.

Exclusive

السعودية تعلن عن تحالف البحر الأحمر لمواجهة تهديدات الحوثيين

Amberin Zaman

Jared Szuba

Amberin Zaman , Jared Szuba

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (not pictured) at the Pentagon on July 14, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.

من المقرر أن يلتقي زيدي العراقي بأردوغان التركي مع انطلاق العلاقات، بينما يشعر الأكراد بالتهميش.

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

A Kurdish fighter from the Iranian Kurdish armed faction Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) stands with his rifle at a site near the Iraqi border with Iran in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on March 8, 2026.

Interview

زعيم حزب الحياة الحرة الكردستاني يسخر من مزاعم إيران بأن تركيا عرقلت خطة تغيير النظام المدعومة من الولايات المتحدة من قبل الأكراد

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart following a meeting in Baghdad on June 28, 2026.

عراقجي الإيراني يكشف دور تركيا في إحباط الهجوم الكردي

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at a Council of Ministers meeting in Baghdad on July 11, 2026.

Analysis

في أول رحلة خارجية له، يسعى رئيس الوزراء العراقي زيدي إلى استمالة ترامب، لكن إيران تلقي بظلالها عليه.

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (R) shakes hands with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian during his visit in Yerevan on July 19, 2025. (Photo by KAREN MINASYAN / AFP) (Photo by KAREN MINASYAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Feature

يُبقي باشينيان، رئيس وزراء أرمينيا، إيران قريبة منه بينما يستميل ترامب وتركيا وأذربيجان

A screenshot of one of Deniz Goktas' standup routines posted to YouTube.

Culture

اعتقال ممثل كوميدي تركي بعد انتشار مقطع فيديو له يصف فيه أردوغان بـ"الديكتاتور".

aqi security personnel patrol in a vehicle along a street in Baghdad on June 28, 2026.

Analysis

تأتي حملة رئيس الوزراء العراقي لمكافحة الفساد في ظل تصاعد الضغوط الأمريكية على الميليشيات المدعومة من إيران.

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Krikor Der-Hagopian at the 9th Sulaimani Forum, in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, on April 16, 2025.

العراق يعين كريكور دير هاغوبيان كأول سفير مسيحي أرمني لدى الولايات المتحدة

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Germany's forward #26 Deniz Undav (2nd R), an ethnic Kurd, scores his team's first goal during the 2026 World Cup Group E football match between Germany and Ivory Coast at the Toronto Stadium in Toronto on June 20, 2026.

Culture

وسط انتكاسات سياسية، يتألق الأكراد في كأس العالم

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 January 24, 2019. - Any deal between Syria's Kurds and the Damascus regime should respect the "special status" of Kurdish-led forces who fought the Islamic State (IS) group, Kobani said. The SDF control around a third of Syria after expelling jihadists from a large northeastern swathe of t

بدأ القائد الكردي السوري كوباني جولته الأوروبية وسط تدقيق من دمشق

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture