This is Beirut, 16/01 21:40 - Reading : less than a minute
Syria's army issued warnings on Friday ahead of strikes on Deir Hafer, east of Aleppo, saying it will target the positions of Kurdish forces and urging civilians to stay away. In several warnings, the Syrian military announced it will target specified areas of Deir Hafer, which it said Kurdish forces were using "as a launching point for their ...
This is Beirut, 16/01 21:35 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday declaring Kurdish a "national language", in an apparent gesture of good will towards the minority following clashes in past days. The move came as the Syrian army warned of new strikes east of Aleppo, despite a meeting between the US-led coalition and Kurdish forces seeking to ...
This is Beirut, 10/01 12:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syria Aleppo Kurds SheikhMaqsud SDF
Syria's army said it had completed a "security sweep" on Saturday of a neighborhood in Aleppo where it clashed with Kurdish forces, who denied losing control of the area after defying calls to surrender. Government forces began striking the Sheikh Maqsud district overnight after a deadline elapsed for Kurdish fighters to withdraw during a ...
This is Beirut, 09/01 20:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Syria's army warned on Friday it would renew attacks against a Kurdish-majority district of Aleppo and urged residents to evacuate, state media reported, hours after a ceasefire was announced. The army said it would target military sites used by Kurdish fighters in the Sheikh Maqsud district, in statements published by state news agency SANA ...
This is Beirut, 07/01 11:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Schools and public institutions were shut in north Syria's Aleppo on Wednesday, as sporadic clashes between government troops and Kurdish-led forces continued into their second day, according to state media. Tuesday's clashes, which killed nine people, were the worst between the two sides, who have so far failed to implement a March deal ...
This is Beirut, 04/01 14:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Syria Mazloum Abdi Kurds Ahmad al-Sharaa
Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi was in Damascus on Sunday for fresh talks with officials on integrating his forces into those of the central military, the Kurds' armed forces said. Abdi signed a deal in March with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to merge the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration into the government by the end of 2025, but ...
Seth J. Frantzman , 2025-12-24 10:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Turkey Syria SDF Kurds Ahmad al-Sharaa
Clashes erupted December 22 in Aleppo between Syrian government troops and the local Kurdish security forces (Asayish), killing at least three people and underscoring the challenges facing efforts to unify armed factions under the Syrian transitional government. Even as Damascus seeks to consolidate nationwide security and integrate armed ...
Seth J. Frantzman , 2025-11-25 21:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Kurds Middle East Syria ISIS Iraq
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi’s November 19 trip to the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq was an important moment, underscoring that Kurdish leaders now appear to understand the importance of cooperation amid sweeping changes in the region. Abdi—a close partner of the US military in Syria who spent ...
This is Beirut, 2025-11-20 11:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Kurdish forces killed two Syrian soldiers in overnight clashes in the country's northeast, the defense ministry said Thursday, with the Kurds saying they were targeting positions used by the Islamic State group. The ministry said in a statement carried by SANA state news agency, that clashes took place after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces ...
This is Beirut, 2025-11-17 10:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
The Kurdish militant group PKK said Monday its forces had withdrawn from a key border area in northern Iraq in a move aimed at shoring up the peace process with Turkey. The pullout comes six months after the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) formally renounced its armed struggle against Turkey, drawing a line under four decades of violence that had ...
This is Beirut, 2025-10-27 11:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party on Monday hailed the withdrawal of PKK fighters from Turkish soil as a "critical" step that completed the first phase of Ankara's peace process with the Kurdish militants. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has pursued four decades of violence against the government, began withdrawing its forces on Sunday, ...
This is Beirut, 2025-10-17 13:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Damascus United States Syria FDS Kurds Army
The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, has announced a “preliminary agreement” with the Syrian government to integrate SDF fighters into a unified military structure within the Syrian army, according to Al Hadath. In an interview with the Associated Press (AP) on Thursday, Abdi discussed what could be a ...