Al Majalla interviewed the SDF commander who shared his thinking prior to the landmark decision, which also guarantees constitutional rights for Syrian Kurds

The smuggling industry is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, and few alternatives exist to earn a living in the area. Border guards are trigger-happy, and calls for change are ignored.

Henry Kissinger will be remembered for his controversial legacy in the Middle East

As a deadline on a security deal over Iranian Kurds in Iraq looms, Tehran is eyeing military action if camps are not disarmed and moved. That could provoke an international response, including the US.

From the 1639 Shirin Palace Agreement to the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, Kurdish self-determination was ignored by the world's dominant powers who were looking out for their economic interests.

The primary focus of this initiative is to emphasise Syria's need for a second independence and to present nine key provisions for a comprehensive solution.

Their support prevented Erdogan — for the first time in his electoral history — from winning in the first round. However, this wasn't enough for a decisive win, and now the two candidates are heading

In a wide-ranging interview with Al Majalla, one of the key figures in Syria's politics speaks out on diplomacy, the PKK's Abdullah Öcalan and the state of his own alliance with the US