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A Kurdish-led force backed by a US-led coalition on Wednesday suspended operations against the Islamic State group and said they would not resume until Turkey halts its attacks on Kurdish militia posts in northern Syria.The Syrian Democratic Forces, joint Arab-Kurdish units under Kurdish command, announced a "temporary halt" to their operation, launched in eastern Syria on September 10, and condemned Turkey's "provocations".On Wednesday, Turkish shelling of Kurdish positions in the Kobane sector of northern Syria killed four fighters, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.The SDF condemned what it called the "coordination" of Turkey's attacks with a fightback by jihadists...

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for Rudaw anchor Omar Kalo's immediate release by the Syrian government on Wednesday. "The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Syrian authorities to immediately release Omar Kalo, a news anchor for the Iraqi Kurdish satellite news broadcaster Rudaw," stated CPJ on Wednesday. Rudaw Media Network issued a statement on Tuesday that Kalo was being held by military intelligence in the city of Aleppo. Kalo, a native of Kobane, was traveling to Aleppo to renew his passport with his family when they were separated at a Syrian government...

Armed forces of the Turkish state continue their attacks in an effort to intimidate the people of Rojava, northern Syria as Afrin remains under their occupation. Rojava-based Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported that Turkish troops deployed at the border with Rojava attacked the village of Ali Shar located east of Kobanê. Citing local sources, ANHA said Turkish forces opened fire on the village for 20 minutes, reportedly to cause fear and panic among the local people. Turkish forces had opened fire on the same village before.

The Turkish army has attacked Siftekê and Ziravê villages of Kobane Tuesday evening. The invading Turkish army has attacked Siftekê and Ziravê villages of Kobane soon after Newroz fire was lit Tuesday evening. Turkish soldiers rained bullets as they attacked both villages with gunfire and DShK-fire.

Musa, a 25-year-old Kurdish marksman, stands atop a building as he looks at the destroyed city of Halimce, east of the Syrian town of Kobane. File photo Turkey-backed rebel groups in Syria launched on Tuesday an offensive on a Kurdish village in Kobane district, in northern Syria.The Islamist rebels based in northern Aleppo shelled the Shuyukh village in Kobane with mortar fire. “The village was hit by dozens of mortar shells, fired by Turkey-backed Islamists that are based in the vicinity of Jarablus city,” a local media activist told ARA News in Kobane.The bombardment caused a number of injuries among...

ARA NewsKobane – A Syrian Kurd opened a falafel restaurant in the city of Kobane, and decided to name it after the US President-elect Donald Trump.Walid Shekhi, 40, opened his “Trump Restaurant” last week in central Kobane, a city under reconstruction since the expulsion of ISIS militants nearly two years ago. Shekhi, a father of six, told ARA News that he named his restaurant after Tump for the US-led coalition’s key role in liberating his hometown from ISIS.“And I believe that the United States under Donald Trump will provide more support to the Kurds to fight and eventually eliminate Daesh terrorists,” he said, using...

US soldiers are in Kobane, the town in northern Syria nearly destroyed in fierce fighting with the Islamic State group, to train Kurdish forces to battle the jihadists, Kurdish sources said Thursday. Mustapha Abdi, an activist in the town on the Turkish border, told AFP the American instructors had arrived "in recent hours", in what is the first official deployment of US ground troops in Syria. A source with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) said the Americans would help plan offensives against two Syrian cities held by IS -- Jarablus and the jihadists' Syrian "capital", Raqa.

Syria's Kurds Are Contemplating an Aleppo Alliance with Assad and Russia 10/9/2015 7:24:00 AM Fabrice Balanche ..............Currently, the Syrian army still controls a third of Aleppo, which is connected to the rest of the government-controlled zone by a narrow road. But this corridor is being squeezed by the Daesh/ISIS on the east and al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra on the west. To win the battle for Aleppo, Assad will therefore need to cooperate with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian franchise of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PYD is eager to connect its cantons around Kobane and Afrin...

GENEVA— The International Commission of Inquiry on Syria is calling on states to curb the flow of weapons to armed groups, which it blames for fueling the war that has killed nearly one quarter of a million people in Syria since March 2011. The Commission has presented an oral update of its latest findings to the UN Human Rights Council.In a hard-hitting emotional presentation before the U.N. Human Rights Council, Commission Chair Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told members of the U.N. Council that Syria has fallen apart before their eyes“A nation has collapsed into the world’s most chaotic and lethal battlefield....

Turkey has said areas in north Syria cleared of fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group will become safe zones. Saturday’s announcement made by Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, came after Ankara announced it had begun bombing ISIL positions in Syria and and Kurdish fighters' camps in northern Iraq. "When areas in northern Syria are cleared of the (ISIL) threat, the safe zones will be formed naturally," Cavusoglu told a news conference. The conflict in Syria has displaced more than 10 million people, with many residing in makeshift camps near the Turkish border.These...

White House condemns suicide bombing in Turkey that killed at least 30 people and was blamed on ISIS. Video The White House on Monday condemned an apparent suicide bombing in Turkey that killed at least 30 people and was blamed on the Islamic State (ISIS) group, AFP reported. Spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House "strongly condemns the heinous terrorist attack that occurred in southern Turkey," which Ankara said appeared to be the work of ISIS. "We have started to see some extremist activity in other countries that does seem to be related to ISIL," Earnest said, using another acronym...

Turkey has been accused of allowing Islamic State jihadists to cross its border to attack the Kurdish town of Kobane. Twin car bombs exploded close to the crossing point with the Turkish town of Mursitpinar, and Kurdish activists and residents claimed they had come across the border, despite its being heavily policed on the Turkish side. Convoys of cars carrying up to 40 Isil fighters - reportedly using the uniform of Kurdish YPG militia as a guise - then attacked Kobane from three sides in the early hours of Thursday morning. Kobane became an important symbol in the battle against...

Recently, the Kurdish Peshmerga won a major victory against the Islamic State group in northern Syria, taking back a town known as Tal Abyad. Amazingly, the Obama administration took credit for this hard-fought victory, even though it had next to nothing to do with it. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the Kurdish victory was “actually a direct consequence of an earlier military operation that President Obama ordered” to break the siege of the Syrian city of Kobani last fall. This laughable claim was quickly shot down by the Kurds themselves, who stated that they could have taken the town back much more...

Reports and photos from the Kurdish Regional Government capital of Irbil in northern Iraq that bombing attack took place near the U.S. consulate.Large explosion near US consulate in #erbil followed by gunfire Source.An explosion in #Ainkawa #Erbil close to #US consulate #TwitterKurds Source.I am at the scene my camera a bi explosion rocks ankawa erbil the christian city Source with video at link.Just shot this and was shot at live bullets , ankawa erbil bad daySource.Many injuries i watched several foreigners injured #ankawa #erbil Source.

Since October 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has regularly referred to the concept of a "Mastermind" (ust akil, "supra-intellect," in Turkish) that, he says, is plotting against Turkey. This concept has been applauded by the Islamist pro-AKP media. Erdogan's December 12, 2014 speech, which focused on this "mastermind" concept, inspired the production of a two-hour "documentary" by one of the leading Turkish television channels, the pro-AKP A Haber. The film, titled "The Mastermind," first aired on March 15, 2015 and has been broadcast repeatedly since then; in addition, the Turkish Islamist pro-AKP media are circulating the film on their...

Though Islamic State is still spreading terror, its weaknesses are becoming apparent. The caliphate has been pushed out of the Syrian town of Kobane by Kurdish fighters, backed by American air power. It is being squeezed in Tikrit (the tribal base of the former dictator, Saddam Hussein) by the Iraqi army and Shia militias co-ordinated by Iran. Compared with the peak, when it was at the gates of Baghdad, its territory has shrunk by about 25%. IS’s funds are dwindling, too. America and its allies have bombed lucrative oil facilities. Most of the hostages have been sold or murdered in...

We know from leaked recordings in the past year that Turkey has been planning to use the tomb of Suleiman Shah as an excuse to invade Syria in hopes of sparking a war: TurkeyÂ’s plan to invade its neighboring country of Syria was uncovered when a secret recording leaked of the highest officials discussing a plan to launch a military aggression on Syria by using the armed terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). Â… ErdoÄŸanÂ’s government was planning a false flag attack to be executed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) against...

Hundreds of Turkish troops in armoured vehicles have entered into northern Syria and evacuated a historic Ottoman tomb and the soldiers guarding it. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah would be moved elsewhere in Syria. He said troops had destroyed the tomb's complex, apparently to prevent it from being used by Islamic State (IS) militants. Turkey considers the shrine be to sovereign territory. Suleyman Shah was grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman empire, Osman the first. SNIP-- The operation began on Saturday at about 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) and ended on Sunday morning. A...

Hundreds of Turkish troops backed by tanks took part in an overnight operation into neighboring Syria to evacuate dozens of besieged soldiers guarding an Ottoman tomb and remove the remains amid fears the shrine was threatened by Islamic State militants. The mission late Saturday, saving Turkish soldiers reportedly stuck for months at the tomb of the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, was the first such major military incursion by Turkey since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said nearly 600 Turkish soldiers on some 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers crossed...

Australians were among the largest contingent of foreign jihadists killed in the battle for Kobani, a senior US state department official has said, after Kurdish forces announced the “liberation” of the Syrian city on Monday. A coalition of Kurdish and Syrian rebel fighters claimed full control over Kobani, located less than a mile from the Turkish border, after a bloody four-month siege by the militia group known as Islamic State (Isis or Isil). Their victory was confirmed by a senior US state department official on Tuesday, who told AFP: “[Isis] is now, whether on order or whether they are breaking...