Kurds

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Tuesday, March 20, is the spring equinox this year. Iranians, Kurds, Central Asians and many in Pakistan and India celebrate the equinox as the New Year, which after all makes a lot more sense than starting it in the dead of winter. Spring is symbolically the […]

Kurds

Turkey says US & Kurds will Leave Manbij or Else, Prepares for Iraq Incursion

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Turkey and the US will oversee the withdrawal of forces allied to the YPG (People’s Protection Units) from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced today, according to Hurriyet Daily News. Speaking to reporters during a flight to Moscow, Cavusoglu said Turkey and the […]

Kurds

Kurdish Civilians pledge to shield Afrin from Turkish Invasion with their Bodies

contributors

TeleSur | – – The YPG and allied forces, under the umbrella organization the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), control over 60 percent of the Syrian border with Turkey. The Kurdish residents of Afrin have said they would act as human shield to confront a Turkish assault on the local Kurdish militia YPG who rules the […]

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Are Kurds, Shiite Militias and the Baath Gov’t allying against Turkey’s Afrin Op?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Fundamentalist Salafi militias, some linked to al-Qaeda, and backed by Turkey, have allegedly taken three new villages in the Afrin canton away from the leftist Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Over all, the Turks and their allies claim the conquest of 71 villages in northern […]

Kurds

The U.S. Is Permanently Occupying Northern Syria, and That’s Trouble

contributors

By Reese Erlich | (The Progressive) | – – When President Barack Obama started bombing Syria in 2014, he enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington, D.C. Americans were appalled by the atrocities of the Islamic State, which had massacred Yazidis, and seized swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq. At the time I warned that, […]

Kurds

Turkish Helicopter Downed by Syrian People’s Protection Units

contributors

TeleSur | – – The Turkish military launched an offensive against Kurdish-held Afrin region over three weeks ago. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has reported the downing of a Turkish military helicopter in Syria. Speaking to members of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Saturday Erdogan said “these things will happen, we are in […]

Kurds

Turkish Jets again Strike Syria, hitting US-Allied Kurdish YPG Targets

contributors

TeleSur | – – Turkey views the growing Kurdish power along its border as a national security threat. Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish YPG militia targets in Syria’s Afrin region, the army said Friday, and a monitoring group reported that seven fighters and two civilians were killed in strikes. The overnight attacks came after a lull […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria: Deir al-Zor attack on US Troops, allies, Shows their Vulnerability

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – US troops and the Kurdish and Arab fighters among whom they are embedded came under a coordinated attack by pro-Damascus militias on late Wednesday into Thursday morning. The action took place in Deir al-Zor Province, in Syria’s far east. It is possible that the pro-regime militias […]

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Syrian Kurds allied with US stream into Afrin, Rally against Turkish Offensive

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Arabic daily Elaph reports that hundreds of Kurds who came into Afrin from other Kurdish cantons in northern Syria staged a demonstration in the city Tuesday evening against the Turkish invasion. Kurds drove from the northeast, from Qamishli and Hasaka, and from Kobane, through Kurdish-held […]