Kurdish controlled syria

Iraq's PM arrives in Washington as US presses Baghdad on Iran-backed militias - analysis

Iraq is already a kind of frontline between the US and Iran. After the US and Israel began strikes on Iran on February 28, the Iranians operationalized militias in Iraq.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi speaks during a parliamentary session to vote in a new government headed by Ali al-Zaidi as prime minister, at the parliament headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, May 14, 2026.
Iranian Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) take part in a training session at a base on the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq February 12, 2026.

The strategic misjudgment of the Kurdish factor in Iran’s war - opinion

While Washington initially expressed rhetorical support for the Kurdish opposition, it later issued more cautious messages discouraging active Kurdish involvement in the conflict.

|ByVEYSI DAG
Children hold signs on the day Syrian Kurds demonstrate to mark Kurdish Language Day, demanding constitutional recognition of the Kurdish language by the Syrian government, in Qamishli, Syria, May 14, 2026.

Syria’s limited Kurdish election exposes limits of Damascus’s democratic transition - analysis

Syria had already held types of limited elections in other areas of Syria last year. However, areas outside government control did not hold a vote.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
The debris of a destroyed building and a motorbike litters the ground following a Jordanian strike on reported drugs and weapons storage facilities in the village of Arman, in the southern Druze-majority province of Sweida, of which many parts are outside the control of Damascus on May 3, 2026.

Petty clashes over a sign in Syria risk snowballing into real conflict

Protesters in Hasakah and also in Qamishli object to the removal of Kurdish from official signs on government buildings.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN

Women of Rojava, Kurdish Syria suffering in the shadow of war

As Turkey contemplates another offensive against the Kurds, the dream of a just society in northeast Syria drifts further away.

NOVEMBER 6, 2021ByKSENIA SVETLOVA/THE MEDIA LINE
Rojava Peshmerga fighters from Syria are one of the forces guarding Mosul Dam in Iraq

Turkey accused of bulldozing cemetery to create 'mass grave' - analysis

It appears every time that Turkey has a high level meeting with US officials or a call with a US official Turkish state media is mobilized to invent or discover some new “YPG/PKK terror.”

JULY 18, 2021BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Turkish soldiers deployed last month in the center of Afrin, a Syrian town bordering on Turkey

Kurdistan Region calls for unity against ISIS threats

ISIS attacked Kurdish Peshmerga fighters near Pirde in Iraq overnight.

MAY 1, 2021BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
A Kurdistan Region Peshmerga looks out at ISIS positions from his frontline near Kirkuk in 2015

Turkey botches raid, blames 'terrorists,' attacks domestic critics

How did all this begin?

FEBRUARY 15, 2021BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
A Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighter walks next to a wall where is depicted the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, in the border town of Tal Abyad

Displaced Syrians near Afrin say Turkish airstrikes terrorize civilians

The area has many displaced people, including Kurdish and Yazidi minorities, who fled Afrin when Turkey invaded northern Syria in January 2018.

FEBRUARY 12, 2021BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
A Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighter walks next to a wall where is depicted the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, in the border town of Tal Abyad

Two car bombs kill at least 11 in Syria's Northern Aleppo

Turkey, which is allied with some rebel groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is in control of the area where the explosion occurred.

JANUARY 31, 2021ByREUTERS
Cars stand in line at a gasoline station as they wait to fuel up in Aleppo, Syria, April 11, 2019

Kurds in Syria could also be reconciling as new US admin take shape

The US Embassy in Syria tweeted on January 15 that it supported the ongoing Syrian intra-Kurdish dialogue and looked forward to its continued progress.

JANUARY 19, 2021BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Turkish Kurds look towards the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from the top of a hill close to the border line between Turkey and Syria near Mursitpinar bordergate

Turkey-backed fighters clash with Kurdish forces in north Syria town

A rebel source with the Turkey-backed National Army said the faction seized some farmland after mounting an attack at the edge of the town.

DECEMBER 18, 2020ByREUTERS
KURDISH FEMALE fighters of the Women’s Protection Unit (YPJ) take part in a military parade as they celebrate victory over Islamic State, in Qamishli, Syria, in March 2019.

Kurdish official says thousands of Syrians to leave camp in northeast

He cited a need to reduce the burden on the camp and step up measures to curb security incidents which he said had risen.

OCTOBER 5, 2020ByREUTERS
Displaced Kurds stuck at a border after a Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria, wait to try cross to the Iraqi side, at the Semalka crossing, next Derik city, Syria, October 21, 2019

Growing controversy over Turkey’s invasion of northern Iraq

Turkey has had almost a year of near-constant new conflicts and militarist sabre-rattling.

JUNE 28, 2020BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
A Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighter walks next to a wall where is depicted the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, in the border town of Tal Abyad