The Jerusalem Post reports: MOSCOW – Russia is convinced the United Nations peace mediator on Syria Staffan de Mistura should take a decision on including ethnic Kurds in Syria peace talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. Holding
U.S. officials captured the Islamic State’s top chemical engineer, who has provided information that has so far led to two airstrikes.
Most reporting on the Syrian Kurds depicts them as fairly unified behind their Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia against the menace of the Islamic State. In truth, there are Kurdish opposition parties, and they have been complaining about the PYD using heavy-handed tactics to suppress them.
Turkey has refused entreaties from the U.S., France, and Russia to halt its shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the artillery strikes as self-defense against a terrorist threat, continuing his effort to link the Syrian Kurdish militia to Kurdish separatists in Turkey and blame them for the Ankara bombing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensified his denunciation of the Syrian Kurdish militia as “terrorists” responsible for this week’s Ankara bombing, and called on the U.S. to renounce support for the Kurds. The U.S. government refused these demands and said it would continue supporting Kurdish forces against the Islamic State in Syria.
Syrian Kurds responded to accusations from Turkey on Thursday, saying that Russia will use its air power to bomb any Turkish troops who cross the border to fight them, and promising an incursion would lead to a “big war” across the region.
Turkey launched airstrikes against Kurds in northern Iraq overnight, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed the terrorist who carried out Wednesday’s deadly bomb attack in Ankara was linked to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, a vital U.S. ally in the war against the Islamic State.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump praised Saddam Hussein Monday afternoon in a press conference, calling the late Iraqi dictator a “bad guy, but the one thing about him: he killed terrorists.”
The volatile situation in Syria took a dangerous turn over the weekend, as Turkey began shelling Kurdish YPG militia forces in Syria, the same militia America has been relying upon as frontline ground forces against the Islamic State. Turkey is also a U.S. ally and a member of NATO.
Contents: Turkey doubles down on shelling Kurds in Syria; Qatar says it will join Saudi Arabia, UAE sending troops to Syria; John Kerry suggests that al-Assad and the Russians are delusional
Contents: Turkey’s military strikes Kurdish positions in Syria, north of Aleppo; Saudi Arabia and Turkey plan joint ground troop incursion into Syria; The death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia
Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey’s military hit Kurdish and Syrian regime targets Saturday in the northern province of Aleppo, a state-run news agency reported, as Ankara mulled joint ground assault with Saudi troops. Anatolia, quoting a military source, said the armed
According to an eyewitness in Northern Iraq, Islamic State jihadists used chemical weapons against the Kurdish Peshmerga this week. Dave Eubanks with the Free Burma Rangers witnessed the use of chemical weapons by the terror group during a current relief mission in Iraqi Kurdistan, where he is helping internally displaced persons (IDP) and doing medical treatment and training.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan unleashed a furious rant against the United States on Wednesday, holding America responsible for the “sea of blood” spilled in Syria, and supporting other terrorist organizations while it focused too intently on defeating the Islamic State.
The murderous German dictator Adolf Hitler, well known for his atrocities against Jews and other segments of society, is being praised as a strong and resolute leader across the Middle East, writes a frustrated opinion columnist for Saudi Arabia-based Al Arabiya.
The Yazidi all-female battalion group the Sun Ladies continues to grow in Iraq to fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
#UnitedWeWin is a short documentary that follows four university students that travel to the front lines of Iraq to see what the international community is doing in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Ecuador is sending mixed messages to Turkey – summoning its ambassador in Quito in protest, while also formally apologizing – after Turkish security attacked female protesters and a socialist lawmaker attending a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the South American capital.
An AFP-Reuters report on Tuesday highlighted the difficulty of getting Syria’s many warring factions together for U.N.-brokered peace talks, as many of the parties involved consider the presence of other parties to be non-starters. Turkey, for example, has announced that it strongly opposes participation by Kurdish groups.
Iraqi Kurdish leaders have announced an independence referendum in November, a day after President Masoud Barzani recommended holding one before the U.S. election.
Hurriyet Daily News offers a remarkable tour of the urban battlefield between Turkey and the PKK, as Turkish tanks and infantry roll through the ruins of the southeastern city of Cizre, a majority-Kurdish city that has long been at the center of the conflict between Kurdish separatists and the Turkish government.
Vice President Joe Biden met with Turkish leaders in Istanbul over the weekend, asking for more Turkish help against the Islamic State and offering to assist with border security, while supporting Turkey’s campaign against the Kurdish separatists of the PKK. The Vice President’s remarks illustrated the delicate balance act between Turkey, Syria, Iraq, ISIS, and the Kurds.
“The Turkish government’s onslaught on Kurdish towns and neighborhoods, which includes round-the-clock curfews and cuts to services, is putting the lives of up to 200,000 people at risk and amounts to collective punishment,” Amnesty International said this week about the clash between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), particularly its militant youth wing, the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H).
Multiple reports have indicated that the Kurdish Democratic Union Party’s militia (YPG) in northern Syria attacked the Assyrian Christians in the region, leaving several people dead.
CNN describes a 12-year-old boy nicknamed “Nasir” as “one of the lucky ones,” because he managed to escape from the Islamic State’s suicide bomber program. He says some of his fellow trainees were as young as 5 years old.
In Afrin, Syria, located 40 miles north of Aleppo, the leaders within the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) continue to recruit new women to fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
Protesters waving Kurdish flags shut down traffic heading into Wales across the Severn Bridge today by holding a demonstration on the bridge against the treatment of Kurdish people by Turkey. Around 100 people took part in the demonstration, waving banners
Kurdish forces are planning to use a key Syrian military base in northeast Syria to launch an attack on the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS).
American and other Western volunteers fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria recently told the Kurdish outlet Rudaw they were gearing up for a new offensive against the jihadists in the new year. One American volunteer recalled how thousands demanded photos with him on a routine visit to a mall in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Beirut (AFP) – Arab and Kurdish forces have killed at least 16 fighters from the Islamic State group during fierce clashes north of the jihadists’ stronghold of Raqa, a monitor said Sunday.
The Kurds are a major factor in the uneasy politics of Turkey and Iraq, and they have been holding the front lines against ISIS in Syria. There are Kurds in Iran, too, and they are nervous about the end of sanctions against Tehran, fearing the mullahs will use their increased wealth and power to further oppress the Kurdish minority.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saluted Kurdish efforts against the Islamic State, and offered Moscow’s support, by way of Damascus.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, strongly criticized the Obama administration’s strategy against the Islamic State on Fox News Sunday.
For the first time in months Islamic State militants mounted a major attack in northern Iraq late Wednesday, but its forces were soundly repelled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces aided by U.S. and coalition air strikes.
The brother of Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claims Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani turned down two opportunities to meet with the Kurdish guerrilla chief while visiting Ankara, Turkey to discuss the fight against the Islamic State.
The chaotic nature of the Syrian civil war was illustrated by the presence of over a hundred representatives from opposition groups in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to lay the groundwork for peace talks with dictator Bashar Assad.
On Thursday, acting under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence with the U.S. Treasury Adam Szubin stated that ISIS is selling “some” of its oil to Turkey.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has claimed responsibility for a triple truck-bomb attack on a town in northeastern Syria that left 50 people dead and injured 80 others, according to the Kurdish YPG militia that controls the area.
Shiite militia groups in Iraq are threatening to attack Turkish troops unless they are withdrawn within 48 hours, according to a Reuters report.
The BBC has found a man believed to be the first Chinese national to volunteer to fight alongside the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State.
