Kurds

French and Dutch authorities have arrested 23 people in connection with a people-smuggling network that is said to have helped around 10,000 Kurds illegally enter the UK.

Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr arranged a sizable anti-American demonstration in Baghdad on Friday, putting his followers on the streets alongside ongoing protests against corruption and the excessive political influence of Iran.

Shops in a Kurdish region of northern Iraq have been selling shoes with a Christian cross embossed on the sole, allowing wearers to “trample the cross,” according to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA).

A report from the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) on Sunday charged Iranian officials with killing one person who was detained during last month’s protests and torturing several others.

German prosecutors have filed terrorism charges against a German woman who allegedly joined the Islamic State group in Syria.

President Emmanuel Macron of France accused the government of Turkey of working with “ISIS proxies” in its campaigns in Syria during remarks alongside President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

The Turkish National Security Council issued a statement on Tuesday that “Operation Peace Spring,” the Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria, will continue despite cease-fire agreements brokered with the United States and Russia.

Iran’s week-long blackout of the Internet ended on Sunday, unleashing a flood of online videos that revealed chaos and repressive violence during nationwide protests over rising gas prices.

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, made a Saturday morning surprise visit to troops based in Iraq.

In an exclusive report on Wednesday, Kurdistan24 News described visiting two bases in eastern Syria to talk with the roughly 500 U.S. troops left behind to defend strategically vital oil fields. The soldiers said they are still working with the Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) militia and conducting operations against Islamic State remnants.

A coalition of Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, Cypriots, and supporters organized a large protest outside of the White House on Wednesday against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s meeting with President Donald Trump.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that when he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump this week, his agenda will include Turkey’s relationship with Russia, complaints about Syrian Kurdish militia forces remaining in the “safe area” Turkey wants to carve out near its border, and Turkey’s long-stalled extradition request for exiled cleric and Erdogan arch-enemy Fethullah Gulen.

A Pentagon spokesman told reporters on Thursday that revenues from Syrian oil secured by U.S. troops will go to the majority Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), not to the United States.

The village of Jinwar in northeastern Syria, an unusual community consisting entirely of women and children, was reportedly evacuated on Monday as Turkish forces continued to advance despite a cease-fire agreement.

The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Nechirvan Barzani, told an audience Tuesday that the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was responsible for Turkish violence against Kurds in Syria, encouraging Kurds to “criticize ourselves” as much as outsiders.

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union is preparing to pay Turkey tens of millions of euros to help bolster its coast guard, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as increasing numbers of people leave the country in hopes of finding sanctuary or jobs in Europe.

Kurdish news service Rudaw reported on Tuesday that Syrian Christians living near the Turkish border are taking up arms to protect their villages from invading Turkish forces and their Syrian allies.

Kurdish outlets and Turkish state media confirmed a Turkish airstrike on Yazidi territory in northern Iraq Monday, reportedly targeting a Yazidi militia formed in the aftermath of the Islamic State’s genocide against their people.

A humanitarian organization in northern Syria, the Free Burma Rangers, announced on Sunday the death of medic and cameraman Zau Seng.

Syrian President Bashar Assad gave an interview to Syria’s state-run SANA news service on Thursday in which he offered Donald Trump backhanded praise for being “transparent” about U.S. interests in Syrian oil, unlike his predecessors. Assad also questioned the U.S. narrative about the demise of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and suggested his death had been faked.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) is pushing a new bill that would transport many Muslims from Syria and Kurdistan into America’s schools and workplaces.

U.S. troops used armored vehicles to conduct a patrol of the border between Syria and Turkey on Thursday, according to witnesses who saw American flags flying from the vehicles.

The general commander of the majority Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) accused Turkish soldiers and their allies Thursday of “occupying Christian villages” in northern Syria, where Turkish officials claimed this week their military operation had ended.

Tuesday brought the end of the cease-fire that halted Turkey’s invasion of Syria to drive Kurdish military forces away from the border. Despite some ominous rumblings from other Turkish officials, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pronounced the Kurdish withdrawal satisfactory and declared victory.

Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria is a threat to the sensitive Christian communities rebuilding in a country that lost the vast majority of its Christian population, Aid to the Church in Need Director of Outreach Edward Clancy told Breitbart News.

Diseased and wounded Islamic State terrorists under Kurdish custody in Syria are requesting to be returned home to the West, the Agence-France Presse (AFP) reported on Tuesday.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday that clashes with Turkish-backed Syrian militia groups continue despite the SDF withdrawing from the border region as demanded in the security agreement between Turkey and Syria’s patrons in Russia.

Iran’s state-run Fars news agency on Monday reported Syrian Army units advancing to the Turkish border region have skirmished with invading Turkish forces.

A Kurdish general revealed Monday that an informant stole the underwear of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to prove to his credibility U.S. intelligence. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it had “no reliable information” that the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died on Sunday, following the revelation by President Donald Trump that U.S. forces cornered him into detonating a suicide bomb.