445 articles
Nechirvan Barzani, Kurdistan’s Prime Minister, held a meeting with a delegation of British civilian and military officials this week to discuss the modernization of Iraqi Kurdistan’s military forces, specifically the Peshmerga. The meeting was attended by several KRG officials to include deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. A statement released […]
The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, made the statement alongside International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, that, “Saudi Arabia has the right to defend itself against security threats including missiles launched from Yemen, and we support the Saudi-led coalition’s efforts to restore legitimacy in Yemen, as accepted by the U.N. Security Council.” They added that, “The humanitarian crisis […]
The U.S. Department of State is advocating the use of the private sector in the rebuilding and reconstruction of Syrian and Iraqi infrastructure in the wake of the war with the Islamic State. Rather than nation building as a government, they believe that privatizing the reformation process will be a far more feasible solution to […]
A decree regarding leases for land in Kirkuk made by the Agriculture Ministry of Iraq has been cancelled. Kurdish Ministers of Parliament have claimed that the decree will pave the way for mass land confiscation and fear it would enable the displacement of Kurdish citizens from the region as the territory is still highly disputed. There […]
Residents of Kirkuk’s southern territories have been abandoning their homes for fear of Islamic State attacks and kidnappings. They say that Iraqi security forces only maintain a presence within the main city and larger villages; that Hashdt al-Shaabi is not an acceptable anti-terrorism element and has not performed as a security force well. A resident […]
In a recent interview, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon who is a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said that the Turkish military’s incursion into Afrin was directly affecting the coalitions efforts to combat the Islamic State. The Syrian Democratic Forces have recently relocated a large amount of their forces in an effort to defend Afrin, effectively […]
Turkey has put Iraq on edge with a bold campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan’s northern mountains where they have conducted airstrikes against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), a long time enemy of Turkey and Operation Olive Branch in Syria. Iraq has made it clear that it does not want any help from Turkey with the foreign […]
The Iraqi-Kurdistan autonomous region is plagued with many serious infrastructural problems. Among them, the Kurdish Regional Government has stressed that the region’s water resources are dangerously deficient in legal guidelines for its conservation and security. A water conservation proposal was introduced by Kurdish parliament’s committee for agriculture and water resources in 2017, but is still […]
In an effort to create a more stable generation of electricity in Kurdistan, the Kurdish Regional Government has entered a new deal that will ultimately boost its natural gas production. The Ministry of Natural Resources, partnered with Dana Gas, informed the public that KRG has signed a sales agreement with Pearl Patroleum for a 10-year […]
Russian mercenaries with ChVK Vagner declared they are fighting in Syria for patriotic reasons, in a recent anonymous interview with RFE/RL news. One commander declared, “[Syrians] can’t stand Assad. Really. Only a tiny percentage of the population there supports him and the rest oppose him. Only [Russian President Vladimir] Putin supports him. Russia supports him — no […]
The Kurdish-Syrian city of Afrin has fallen to the Turkish army’s barrage of artillery and airstrikes paired with its FSA (Free Syrian Army) proxies and ground forces. The SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) and YPG (People’s protection Units) have been forced to pull back their conventional forces but are acknowledging an stage of the conflict is […]
A British citizen who was fighting on behalf of the Syrian Democratic Forces, under the YPJ, has been confirmed killed in Afrin by Turkish military forces. Anna Campbell was part of the all female YPJ militia and one of several foreign volunteer fighters to be killed during Operation Olive Branch since it’s start in January. […]