Tag: Kurds

Despite the Kurdish cheer, senior US State Department official told Reuters the setback for Islamic State in Kobani did not mean "anyone is declaring mission accomplished or this is a significant turning point."

With the situation in Iraq and Syria changed, energy become key to the improving relationship between Ankara and the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. Working together, they could also halt, or even defeat their common enemy - ISIS - from becoming a regional power.

in order to fight ISIS effectively the Iraqi kurd Peshmerga militia urgently needs modern weapons, which only the Americans can deliver. Others may help, but may not be enough to maintain a long term war fighting, which looks inevitable as western nations hesitate to get actively involved in this strange but highly dangerous conflict.

With as many as 30 million people spread across the Middle East, the Kurds claim to be the world’s largest ethnic group without a country. The recent incursion of the Islamic State in Iraq and el-Sham (ISIS - aka Da'ish) now presents the Kurds with both an opportunity but also great risk. The Kurds as a nationality have now re-appeared on the world stage. If anything good should come out of the present Islamic turmoil in Iraq and Syria, it could perhaps improve the traditionally suspicious ties between Turkey and the region’s Kurds.

In this first part in a series outlining the violently evolving middle east, this essay written by Defense-Analyst David Eshel covers the evolution of Da'ish (aka ISIS, ISIL) from the collapse of Iraq, by operation 'Iraqi Freedom' and the chaos triggered by President Obama's Middle East 'Arab Spring' campaign of 2009.

Fierce fighting between Islamic State and Syrian Kurdish forces again battered the Syrian town of Kobani, as coalition forces continue their strikes in support of the Kurds.

AQAP militants execute 14 soldiers in Hadarmout, amid sectarian fighting in Yeme | Overloaded Iraqi Mi-17 crash on a rescue mission to Sinjar | West provide air support, sending arms, advisors to assist Iraqi Kurds | ISIL regain grip of Deir el-Zor rural area in East Syria | US conducts air strikes against ISIL near Erbil | White House authorise humanitarian support to Iraqi minorities, air strikes targeting ISIS | US missile cruiser enroute to the Black Sea | 40,000 stranded on Sinjar mountain under ISIS death threats | France to speed up arms for Lebanon | Pakistan air strikes hit militants in Datta-khel, North Waziristan | US general killed by Afghan 'insider attack' | Egypt, Algeria align against Libyan extremists | 32 Strike Tunnels Destroyed in Gaza | Lebanon: ISIS Takes the town of Ersal | AQAP jihadists kill 9 Yemeni soldiers | Two Terror attacks rock Jerusalem | Iraqi Air Force to assist Kurds fighting ISIS | 23 Syrians killed by barrel bombs in Idlib

In the wake of the steady disintegration of the Assad regime, Syrian opposition activists reported that several towns, such as Amouda and Qabani in Syria’s Kurdish populated north eastern region had passed in mid-July 2012 without a fight into the hands of a local group called the Free Kurdish Army.

By David Eshel Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Islamic prime minister of Turkey, may not be a nice person, regarded by most Israelis as an unfriendly...

During his whirlwind stopover in Baghdad, last Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama has declared that Iraqis "must take responsibility for their country". He predicted...

As the US War in Iraq seems to diminish into acceptable proportions late 2007, a new crisis is arising in Iraq's north, as Turkish...

Members of the secretive Yazidi religion are deeply concerned over their future in Iraq after last Tuesday's devastating attack, which massacred nearly five hundred...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won a convincing victory in the July 2007 elections, but despite the opposition's claims, it...

Two bombings in mid February near Zahedan in southeastern Iran are the latest in a series of high profile incidents involving armed opposition groups...