This is Beirut

Syria, France, and US Agree to Relaunch Kurdish Integration Talks in Paris

This is Beirut, 25/07 21:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria, France, and the United States said they agreed Friday to convene "as soon as possible" talks in Paris to integrate the autonomous Kurdish administration into the Syrian state. The Kurds, who control large swathes of northeast Syria, are negotiating with the central government in Damascus on the integration of their civil and military ...

Why No States for the Druze or the Kurds?

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, 22/07 15:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Syria Middle East Druze Kurds United States

Self-determination in the Middle East is inconsistent. For Muslim Palestinians, statehood is seen as an unfulfilled destiny. Yet for religious minorities like the Druze or ethnic groups like the Kurds, pursuing sovereignty is branded as betrayal or capitulation to imperialism. There’s no clear logic to why Israel should be divided into two ...

PKK Militants Want to Participate in Turkish Politics, Says Top Commander Bese Hozat

This is Beirut, 11/07 18:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Bese Hozat Turkey PKK Kurds

Kurdish PKK militants want to return to Turkey and enter democratic politics, one of the group's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq. In an interview with AFP, Bese Hozat, one of the Kurdish militant group's two top leaders, also warned the fragile peace process risked being ...

Five Key Dates in the Turkey-PKK Conflict

This is Beirut, 11/07 09:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Turkey Kurds Politics

Fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will start laying down their arms at a ceremony in northern Iraq on Friday, two months after the militant group ended its armed struggle against the Turkish state. The move comes in response to a historic call by jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan in February, urging them to end their decades-long ...

Turkey and the PKK: Turning Point or Political Mirage?

Sarah Martin, 09/07 17:40 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Turkey Kurds PKK Abdullah Öcalan Disarmament

More than four decades after the start of an armed insurgency that has claimed over 45,000 lives, an announcement made on July 9, 2025, could mark a decisive turning point in Turkey’s modern history. Speaking from his isolated prison cell on the island of Imrali, Abdullah Öcalan, the historic leader and founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party ...

Erdogan and Pro-Kurdish MPs Meet in 'New Phase' of Rapprochement

This is Beirut, 07/07 17:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkey PKK Kurds Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish DEM party Monday to discuss the next steps after PKK militants agreed to end their decades-long insurgency. DEM, Turkey's third-biggest party, has played a key role in facilitating an emerging peace deal between the government and jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, whose ...

Kurdish Delegation Heads to Damascus for Talks

This is Beirut, 31/05 16:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Syrian Democratic Forces

A delegation from northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration was headed to Damascus on Saturday for talks on implementing a March deal to integrate Kurdish institutions into the state, a member of the delegation said. Under the agreement signed by Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led ...

Syria's Kurd to Insist on Decentralized Government in talks

This is Beirut, 26/05 16:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds

Syria's Kurds will insist on a decentralized system of government in upcoming talks with the new authorities in Damascus, a senior Kurdish official said on Monday. The Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria signed an agreement with the new Syrian government in March to integrate into Syria's state institutions. The two sides ...

Syrian Government Visits Notorious Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

This is Beirut, 24/05 18:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Al-Hol Refugee Camp

A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected Islamic State group jihadists, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday. Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to the ...

Syrian Forces Deploy at Key Dam Under Deal with Kurds

This is Beirut, 12/04 17:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Syrian Democratic Forces Kurds

Security forces from the new Islamist government in Damascus deployed Saturday around a strategic dam in northern Syria, under a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration, state media reported. Under the agreement, Kurdish-led fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will pull back from the dam, which they captured from the ...

Kurdish Authorities and Syrian Government Reach Deal on Tishrin Dam

This is Beirut, 10/04 20:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Damascus Tishrin dam

The Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have struck a deal with the central government on running a key dam they captured from jihadists with US support, a Kurdish source said Thursday. "An agreement has been reached between the autonomous administration and the Syrian government for the management of the Tishrin Dam" on the Euphrates ...

Pro-Turkey Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area

This is Beirut, 08/04 19:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkey Syria Afrin Kurds

Pro-Turkey Syrian groups have scaled down their military presence in an historically Kurdish-majority area of the country's north, which they have controlled since 2018, a Syrian defense ministry official said on Tuesday. The move follows an agreement signed last month between Syria's new authorities and Kurdish officials that provides for the ...

Kurds