More than 57,000 emails reportedly from account of Minister of Oil Berat Albayrak, son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hacked by activist collective Redhack
The result of this year’s presidential election in the United States stunned many in and outside the country. Donald Trump – a populist enigma with no political experience – will soon lead the most powerful state in the world. Now the world holds its breath as they wait to see what President Trump will do at home and abroad.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced last Friday the commencement of an operation to conquer the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. The operation was designated “Euphrates Wrath.”
This week, we focus on Iraq's second city of Mosul. Retreating Islamic State group militants have littered the surrounding villages with mines and explosives - we see how Kurdish forces are carrying out the demining operations. Meanwhile, from a secret location, an Iraqi radio station gives a voice to civilians who are trapped inside Mosul, but not silenced. Finally, we find out why towns in northern Syria are shedding Arabised names in favour of their traditional Kurdish ones.
ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – Turkey’s Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chair Selahattin Demirtas on Tuesday called on the Turkish President to clear the Islamic State (IS) from his country first before sending troops to Iraq.
In a weekly address to HDP’s parliamentarian group in the Turkish Assembly, Demirtas claimed there were neighborhoods in the ethnically mixed city of Gaziantep on the Syrian border where security forces could not enter.
BAGHDAD — An unlikely array of forces is converging on the city of Mosul, lining up for a battle on the historic plains of northern Iraq that is likely to be decisive in the war against the Islamic State group.
The tacit alliance — Iraqi troops alongside Shiite militiamen, Sunni Arab tribesmen, Kurdish fighters and U.S special forces — underscores the importance of this battle. Retaking Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, would effectively break the back of the militant group, ending their self-declared “caliphate,” at least in Iraq.
JP - The most stable part of northern Syria, a region known as Rojava or Syrian Kurdistan, now faces threats on numerous fronts. Syrian Kurds and their US backers ought to learn from our experience in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has been a beacon of stability and democracy in the most perilous region of the world.
As the skies over Syria get yet more crowded, we may be witnessing another turning point in a conflict now in its sixth year. Turkish planes have been both Isis and Kurds inside Syria - the prospect of a unified autonomous Kurdish region at Turkey's border is enough to have President Erdogan burying the hatchet with Assad's backers in Tehran and Moscow. Detente with Damascus would certainly be a turning point.
Produced by Charles WENTE, François WIBAUX and Van MEGUERDITCHIAN.
It almost seems like someone took the US strategy, and turned it upside down. Five days ago, US jets were scrambled to protect Kurdish forces in their self-declared Northern Syria Federation from Assad's air force in the eastern city of Hasakah.
Today, in the aftermath of a limited Turkish intervention on Syrian soil, the US is demanding the Kurds leave the northern city of Manbij, which the Kurds fought and died to capture during the past two months – backed by US warplanes.
Glenn Field
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish civilians express their appreciation for German support of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Peshmerga in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
“The relationship is strong,” said Bazhdar Muhammad, a taxi driver. “They give us weapons and support. It’s really helpful in times like this.”
