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Turkey’s Kurds are hoping that Ankara’s bid to end the decades-long PKK conflict won’t be hurt by Damascus’ lightning offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria that was backed by Turkey. A close ally of the new post Bashar al-Assad Syrian leadership, Ankara has been engaged in dialogue with the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan whose fighters fought a four-decade insurgency that cost some 50,000 lives. But that process has been largely stalled amid a stand-off between the Kurdish-led SDF that controls swathes of northeastern Syria and Damascus which wants the force integrated into the central state. That standoff, which triggered weeks of clashes, came to a head over the weekend when Syrian troops made rapid advances in Kurdish-controlled areas, with President Ahmed al-Sharaa announcing a ceasefire deal to enforce his integration plans late Sunday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the ceasefire and the integration agreement as “a very important achievement”, commending the Syrian army for its “careful” offensive which Ankara has billed as a justified “fight against terrorism.” But the violence, which began earlier this month, has unsettled Turkey’s Kurds, who account for a fifth of its 86 million population, prompting a string of protests. In Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-majority southeast, clashes broke out on Monday afternoon as police tried to break up a demonstration of at least 500 people who gathered despite heavy snowfall, an AFP correspondent said. They used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the protest and made at least 20 arrests, he said.And during the evening, Istanbul police broke up protests outside the headquarters of the pro-Kurdish DEM, Turkey’s third largest party, arresting 10 people including a French journalist, the party said. Raphael Boukandoura, who works for various publications including Courrier International and Ouest France, was arrested while covering the demo, with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calling for for his “immediate release”. Turkey has long been hostile to the US-backed SDF, seeing it as an extension of the PKK and a major threat along the 900-kilometre (550-mile) border it shares with Syria. – ‘Sabotage’ -For the Kurds, the offensive was a tough blow to their hopes of preserving their autonomous administration. Several days of fierce fighting earlier this month pushed SDF forces out of Aleppo, and over the weekend, government troops also took Raqa, a city SDF had held since recapturing it from Islamic State militants nearly a decade ago.Turkey’s support sparked an angry response, with Ocalan warning the violence was “an attempt to sabotage” the ongoing peace process, in a message sent via DEM. DEM leaders — which have spent over a year shuttling between Ankara and Ocalan — also accused the government of “pure hypocrisy”. “You cannot treat those you call ‘citizens’ on this side of the border as ‘enemies’ on the other,” the party said in a statement. “You cannot be constructive in Ankara and destructive in Syria.”Speaking to AFP, one of DEM’s Diyarbakir leaders Abbas Sahin said the operation was a threat to the peace process which had been “severely tested” but “must continue”. Bayram Bozyel, head of Diyarbakir-based Kurdistan Socialist Party (PSK) said Turkey’s support for actions against Kurds in Syria was “causing unease among Kurds in Turkey” “We don’t know how the PKK will react, (Ankara’s) policy has sparked a deep sense of distrust among Kurds,” he said. Despite everything, Bozyel believes Turkey “will continue the (peace) process and the PKK disarmament” because it had no other choice. “Otherwise the PKK will pose an even greater threat to Turkey.”Last year, in response to a call by Ocalan, the PKK publicly ended its armed struggle against Turkey, saying it wanted to embrace democratic means to defend Kurdish rights. But six weeks ago, a senior PKK leaders told AFP the group would take no further steps without Turkey taking steps to reciprocate. 

Iran’s top police officer issued an ultimatum on Monday to protesters who joined what authorities have deemed “riots”, saying they must hand themselves in within three days or face the full force of the law.But the government also pledged to tackle economic hardships that sparked the demonstrations, which were met with a crackdown that rights groups say has left thousands dead.The protests constituted the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years, with the full scale of the violence yet to emerge amid an internet blackout.National police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan on Monday urged young people “deceived” into joining the “riots” to turn themselves in and receive lighter punishment.Those “who became unwittingly involved in the riots are considered to be deceived individuals, not enemy soldiers” and “will be treated with leniency”, he told state television.Officials have said the demonstrations were peaceful before descending into chaos fuelled by Iran’s arch-foes the United States and Israel in an effort to destabilise the nation. The heads of the country’s executive, legislative and judicial branches on Monday all pledged to work “around the clock” in “resolving livelihood and economic problems”, according to a joint statement published by state television. But they would also “decisively punish” the instigators of “terrorist incidents”, said the statement from President Masoud Pezeshkian, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. The scale of the crackdown has emerged piecemeal as Iran remains under an unprecedented internet shutdown that is now in its 11th day.Despite difficulty accessing information, the Iran Human Rights NGO says it has verified that 3,428 protesters were killed by security forces.The NGO’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam on Monday warned the death toll could be higher by many thousands.”Information received from eyewitnesses, families and other citizens, together with other available evidence, indicates that the number of protesters killed may exceed even the highest media estimates,” he said in a statement.”There is no doubt that the Islamic republic has committed one of the largest mass killings of protesters in our time.”- ‘New test’ -Alarm has grown over the possibility that authorities will use capital punishment against protesters.The United Nations on Monday warned the country was using executions as “a tool of state intimidation”.Iran — the world’s most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups — reportedly executed 1,500 people last year, UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.Security officials cited by Iran’s Tasnim news agency said late last week that around 3,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations, but rights groups say the number could be as high as 20,000. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that authorities “must break the back of the seditionists”.Internet access would “gradually” return to normal this week, Hossein Afshin, Iran’s vice president for science, technology and the knowledge economy, said Monday on state television, after limited access briefly returned the day before.Pezeshkian criticised the internet restrictions, urging “better governance” of cyberspace. Images from the capital Tehran showed buildings and billboards destroyed during the rallies. In Iran’s second-largest city of Mashhad, damage to public infrastructure exceeded $15 million, Mayor Mohammadreza Qalandar Sharif told state television. Outside Iran, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of neighbouring Turkey, in his first comments on the protests, described the unrest as a “new test” for Tehran, pledging Turkey would “stand against any initiative” that would drag the region into chaos.”We believe that, with a… policy prioritising dialogue and diplomacy, our Iranian brothers will, God willing, get through this trap-filled period,” he said in a televised speech.

Syria’s army deployed in formerly Kurdish-led areas in the country’s east and north on Monday after a ceasefire announced a day earlier, as Syria’s president and the Kurds’ leader were to hold talks.The leader of the Syrian Kurdish forces said Sunday he agreed to the deal with Damascus to avoid broader war, integrating the Kurds’ administration and his fighters into the state after months of stalled negotiations.Despite the deal, the government and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) traded blame Monday for fresh attacks the military said killed three soldiers, as well as accusations over the fate of Islamic State (IS) group prisoners in Kurdish-run jails.Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced the accord with SDF chief Mazloum Abdi following two days of rapid gains in Kurdish-controlled territory, after the army pushed the Kurdish fighters out of Aleppo city earlier this month.Analysts said the deal marked a blow for the minority’s long-held ambitions of preserving the de facto autonomy they had exercised in swathes of north and northeast Syria for over a decade.In Deir Ezzor province in the country’s east, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of military vehicles heading to the east of the Euphrates River, while trucks, cars and pedestrians lined up at a small bridge leading to the eastern bank.Driver Mohammed Khalil, 50, said he was overjoyed by the army’s arrival.”We hope things will be better than before. There was… no freedom” under the SDF, he told AFP.Teacher Safia Keddo, 49, said that “we’re not asking for a miracle, we just want stability and a normal life.”- ‘Protecting civilian lives’ -The agreement included the Kurdish administration’s immediate handover of Arab-majority Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces to the government, which will also take responsibility for IS prisoners and their families held in Kurdish-run jails and camps.The SDF had seized swathes of the provinces as they expelled the jihadists during Syria’s civil war with the support of an international coalition led by the United States.A defence ministry map released by state media on Monday showed the government controlled all of Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces, while the eastern parts of Hasakeh province were still under Kurdish control.An AFP correspondent in Raqa said security forces deployed in the main square while a military convoy passed through the city as sporadic gunfire rang out, and residents toppled a statue of a woman erected by Kurdish forces.Raqa resident Khaled al-Afnan, 34, said “we support Kurdish civil rights… but we don’t support them having a military role.””This deal is important for protecting civilian lives,” he told AFP.The army and the SDF traded accusations of carrying out several attacks, while authorities announced a curfew in Hasakeh province’s Shadadi after the army said the SDF released IS detainees from the town’s prison.The Kurds instead accused Damascus of attacking the facility and said it had “fallen outside the control of our forces”.AFP was unable to immediately verify the claims.An interior ministry statement expressed readiness to “take over the management and security” of IS prisons in Hasakeh and for “direct coordination with the US side” to prevent the return of “terrorism”.- ‘Serious doubts’ -Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a close ally of Damascus who is hostile to the SDF, hailed the Syrian army for its “careful” offensive despite what he called “provocations”. The SDF on Sunday withdrew from areas under its control in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, including the Al-Omar oil field, the country’s largest, and the Tanak field.Local fighters from tribes in the Arab-majority province sided with Damascus and seized the areas before the arrival of government forces.Some Arab tribes were previously allied with the SDF, which included a significant Arab component. An energy ministry official told state television on Monday that technical teams were heading to recently taken oil facilities to assess their condition.The SDF’s Abdi said Sunday he agreed to the deal to avoid civil war and end a conflict “imposed” on the Kurds.Mutlu Civiroglu, a Washington-based analyst and expert on the Kurds, said the government’s advance had raised “serious doubts about the durability” of the ceasefire and a March agreement between the government and the Kurds.Sharaa had on Friday issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition, but the Kurds said it fell short of their expectations.In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country’s northeast, activist Hevi Ahmed, 40, said Sunday’s deal was “a disappointment after years of hope that the Syrian constitution might contain a better future for the Kurds.” 

Residents of the Kurdish Syrian city of Qamishli voiced disillusionment on Monday after a deal with Damascus struck a fatal blow to their long-held aspirations of autonomy, with some accusing the United States of abandoning them.Under pressure from a government advance through Kurdish-controlled areas, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leader Mazloum Abdi said Sunday that he had agreed to a ceasefire deal formalising plans for Kurdish integration into the state in order to avoid “civil war”.The deal stipulates that the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration immediately hand over two predominantly Arab provinces it controlled, and outlines the integration of the body’s civil institutions in its stronghold of Hasakeh.On Sunday, US envoy Tom Barrack embraced the new deal as an “inflection point, where former adversaries embrace partnership”, but some in Qamishli saw it as a betrayal after the Kurds’ contributions in the war against the Islamic State (IS) group.”I never felt like the Americans’ support was genuine,” said 40-year-old Kurdish activist Hevi Ahmed, who likened Washington’s “dealings with people to mere real estate brokerage”.”The agreement is a disappointment after years of hope that the Syrian constitution might contain a better future for the Kurds,” she added.Spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, the Kurds say that their attempts to establish an independent state have been systematically repressed by regional and international powers throughout their history.Washington has long allied itself with the SDF, which helped lead the fight against IS. But since the fall of Assad in 2024, the US position has been more complex, with President Donald Trump broadly supporting the new government’s efforts to unify the country while sending signals he is ready to move on from the SDF partnership.- Sharaa’s ‘vision’ -Aras Mohammed, a 34-year-old employee in the Kurdish administration, also expressed a “great sense of disappointment”. With the new deal, he said, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa “imposes his vision of the state and constitution, based on the legitimacy he obtained by overthrowing al-Assad”.That vision involves a centralised government, which Sharaa argues is necessary for stability after years of war, but which flies in the face of calls from minority groups in Syria for a more federalised system that safeguards their goal of self-determination.Mohammed said he also had major concerns after past “agreements have been violated, bypassed or diluted”.Ever since clashes erupted between Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government troops in Aleppo city earlier this month, Kurds living in autonomous areas have been growing increasingly anxious about the future of their long-marginalised community.As the clashes extended to areas of Kurdish control in Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces, thousands of people came to seek refuge in Kurdish-majority Qamishli, many in overcrowded shelters, according to AFP correspondents.The Kurdish administration had already agreed in principle to be integrated into the government, though its leaders continued to call for decentralised rule — a non-starter for the new authorities.A decree announced by Sharaa on Friday made Kurdish a national language, designated the Kurdish new year of Nowruz an official holiday and granted citizenship to Kurds previously deprived of it, though it did little to reassure the community.- Like ‘Sweida and the coast’ -Ahmed said she “fears reprisals from government-affiliated factions… similar to what happened in Sweida and the coast”, where outbreaks of sectarian violence against the Alawite and Druze communities killed hundreds of people last year.She also expressed concern about the potential desecration of “images and graves of martyrs” killed in battles against IS.After the SDF withdrew from parts of Raqa on Sunday, an AFP correspondent saw people destroy a statue honouring a woman who fought with Kurdish forces and was killed by IS during the battle for Raqa city.Despite their partnership in the fight against jihadists, the US sparked an outcry when it pulled its troops out of northeastern Syria in 2019, leaving Kurdish-run territory open to a Turkish offensive that killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands.”This is not the first time America abandons its allies, allies who fought hard and gave thousands of martyrs against barbarians and terrorists,” said jewellery shop owner Rafeh Ismail, 43.Pharmacist Mohammed Issa, 25, asked that “the international coalition and the US do not abandon the Kurds”.”Unfortunately, international decisions are determining our fate today,” he said.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is set to get much worse in 2026 as food insecurity increases and international aid evaporates, the United Nations warned on Monday.Julien Harneis, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said he feared the calamitous situation would go under the radar until the death toll mounts.The picture in Yemen is “very, very concerning”, he told reporters in Geneva.Last year, 19.5 million people in the country needed humanitarian aid — and the UN’s response plan for the country was only 28-percent financed, at $688 million.”We are expecting things to be much worse in 2026,” said Harneis, pointing out that 21 million Yemenis were now in need, and aid was drying up.He said food insecurity was increasing, particularly on the Red Sea coast, while the health system, assisted by the United Nations and the World Bank for the last 10 years, was “not going to be supported in the way it has been in the past”.He said Yemenis would be “very vulnerable to epidemics” this year.”My fear is that we won’t hear about it until the mortality and the morbidity significantly increases this next year,” he added.Under President Donald Trump, the United States has heavily slashed foreign aid and other key donor countries have been tightening their belts.Harneis said that for many years, the United States was the biggest donor to Yemen, but “that’s no longer the case”.”I am hoping that at least in parts of Yemen, the US government will come back to fund,” he said, and also that Gulf countries would step up support.”A humanitarian crisis in Yemen is a risk to the Arabian peninsula. Cholera, measles and polio cross borders,” he warned.Harneis said the UN was trying to work with NGOs to see if they could plug any of the gaps.”Children are dying — and it’s going to get worse,” he said.”For 10 years, the UN and humanitarian organisations were able to improve mortality and morbidity,” he pointed out.”With the conjunction we’re seeing this year, that’s not going to be the case. That is the simple story that everybody needs to understand.”- UN response ‘hobbled’ -Yemen’s internationally recognised government is a patchwork of groups held together by their opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis, who ousted them from the capital Sanaa in 2014 and now rule much of the country’s north.The Houthis have been at war with the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.Harneis said the lack of a solution to the conflict was driving needs.”It’s not active fighting, it’s not massive displacement, it’s not bombing,” he said.”It is the collapse of the economy,” the damage to the ports and airports and the disruption of essential services.”We can take the edge off it, we can save lives but we cannot stop the underlying dynamic which is creating all these needs,” he said.Meanwhile 73 UN staff members are being held in detention in Yemen, some since 2021.”With these detentions and the seizure of our offices, the UN does not have the conditions to be able to work,” Harneis lamented.”To see our humanitarian response so hobbled is terrifying.” 

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter seen by AFP.The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.What exactly will it do? And who has been invited?- To what end? -The Board of Peace will be chaired by Trump, according to its founding charter.It is “an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”, reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. It will “undertake such peace-building functions in accordance with international law”, it adds.- Who’s boss? -Trump will be chairman but also “separately serve as inaugural representative of the United States of America”.”The Chairman shall have exclusive authority to create, modify, or dissolve subsidiary entities as necessary or appropriate to fulfill the Board of Peace’s mission,” the document states.He will pick members of an Executive Board to be “leaders of global stature” to “serve two-year terms, subject to removal by the Chairman”.He may also, “acting on behalf of the Board of Peace”, “adopt resolutions or other directives”.The chairman can be replaced only in case of “voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity”.- Who can be a member? -Member states have to be invited by the US president, and will be represented by their head of state or government.Each member “shall serve a term of no more than three years”, the charter says.But “the three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force”, it adds.The board will “convene voting meetings at least annually”, and “each member State shall have one vote”.But while all decisions require “a majority of Member States present and voting”, they will also be “subject to the approval of the Chairman, who may also cast a vote in his capacity as Chairman in the event of a tie”.- Who’s already in? -The White House has said its members will include:US President Donald Trump, chairUS Secretary of State Marco RubioSteve Witkoff, Trump’s special negotiatorJared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-lawTony Blair, former UK prime ministerMarc Rowan, billionaire US financierAjay Banga, World Bank president Robert Gabriel, loyal Trump aide on the National Security Council – Who’s been invited? -The list of countries and leaders who say they have been invited include, but are not limited to:Russia’s President Vladimir PutinCanada’s Prime Minister Mark CarneyEgypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-SisiArgentina’s President Javier MileiJordanBrazilParaguayIndiaPakistanGermanyFranceItalyHungaryRomaniaUzbekistanBelarus- When does it start? -The charter says it enters into force “upon expression of consent to be bound by three States”.

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1.0 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter, seen Monday by AFP. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.Member countries — represented on the board by their head of state — would be allowed to join for three years — or longer if they paid more than $1.0 billion within the first year, the charter says.”Each Member State shall serve a term of no more than three years from this Charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the Chairman,” the board’s draft charter says.”The three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force.”The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but its charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.The White House said there would be a main board, a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern devastated Gaza, and a second “executive board” that appears designed to have a more advisory role.”The Board of Peace is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” the charter says.- ‘Failed institutions’ -It appears to take a swipe at international institutions such as the United Nations, saying that the board should have “the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.”Trump has regularly criticized the United Nations and announced this month that his country will withdraw from 66 global organizations and treaties — roughly half affiliated with the UN.Membership of the board would be “limited to States invited to participate by the Chairman,” according to the draft charter.Trump would have the power to remove member states from the board, subject to a veto by two-third of members, and choose his replacement should he leave his role as chairman.The “Board of Peace” began to take shape on Saturday when the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Argentina and Canada were asked to join.Trump also named as members Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, senior negotiator Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.Israel has objected to the line-up of a “Gaza executive board” to operate under the body, which includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi.