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  • SDF
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi (C) and Hamid Darbandi (C-R behind), envoy of Iraqi Kurdish politician Masoud Barzani, attend the pan-Kurdish "Unity and Consensus" conference in Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 26, 2025. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

In U-turn, Syrian Kurds are now demanding federalism

Having agreed on an outline for integration with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa last month, Kurdish-led groups have now issued a raft of contradictory demands, angering both Damascus and Ankara

Omer Onhon 30, Apr 2025
The US-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition against the Islamic State (IS) trains SDF fighters in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on September 7, 2022. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

Where does the counter-IS mission stand after Sharaa-SDF deal?

An SDF shift away from the US partnership and the risk of IS resurgence could undo years of hard-won progress in the fight against terrorism

Caroline Rose 21, Apr 2025
Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi during the signing of the agreement to integrate the SDF into state institutions, Damascus, March 10, 2025. AFP

Reading between the lines of the Sharaa-Abdi deal

Al Majalla's exclusive interview with YPG commander Mazloum Abdi gives great insight into a landmark deal reached between Damascus and Syria's Kurds. This is my take on what Abdi really meant.

Omer Onhon 14, Mar 2025
Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi during the signing of the agreement to integrate the SDF into state institutions, Damascus, March 10, 2025. AFP

Sharaa's political pragmatism and the myth of sectarianism

After a hugely important deal to integrate Syria's Kurds, there is a growing realisation among myriad factions that national unity is crucial for the country's survival

Ahmed Maher 13, Mar 2025
Yusra Na'im

Mazloum Abdi agrees to merge the SDF into Syria's state army

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

Ibrahim Hamidi 11, Mar 2025
A man walks close to a fire raging at a facility in al-Qahtaniyah in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border on October 5, 2023.

SDF-HTS standoff: Best and worst-case scenarios

While solving the SDF situation in itself will not guarantee success for the larger Syria project, failing to integrate them will almost certainly torpedo that project

James Jeffrey 31, Jan 2025

SDF on shaky ground in new Syria

Fares Garabet 23, Dec 2024
A man walks close to a fire raging at a facility in al-Qahtaniyah in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border on October 5, 2023. AFP

Turkey warns neighbours and NATO partner after Ankara attack

Increased cross-border operations have followed an attack claimed by the PKK in Ankara as frustration grows over the seeming unwillingness of allies to admit links and act accordingly

Shelly Kittleson 05, Oct 2023
Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah. AFP

Mazloum Abdi: Syria, Iran, and Turkey 'incited' Arab tribes to attack the SDF

The SDF commander rejects demands to disband his forces and tells Al Majalla in an exclusive interview that US-Russian tension east of the Euphrates is 'under control'

Ibrahim Hamidi 24, Sep 2023
Syrian Arabs in the SDF-held city of Shuhail in the Deir ez-Zor region. May 20, 2019. Shelly Kittleson

Mounting tensions in eastern Syria boil over in 'tribal' uprising

The conflict in Deir ez-Zor marks some of the most serious internal strife within the SDF since the creation of the US-backed forces in late 2015.

Shelly Kittleson 10, Sep 2023
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PKK guerrillas scan for firing positions as they conduct military exercises in the mountains of northern Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region, 18 November 2006. DAVID FURST / AFP
Politics

What next after historic PKK decision to disband?

11 May 2025

Türkiye hailed the move to dissolve what it deems a terrorist group that claimed over 40,000 lives, but vows the fight would continue should the process collapse

Omer Onhon
Al Majalla
Business & Economy

Trump's 'big' agenda in Saudi Arabia

11 May 2025

A high-powered delegation will accompany him on his first official foreign trip of his second term as US president, reflecting a diverse agenda, spanning trade, defence and geopolitics

Maher Chmaytelli
Kashmiri men react after the ceasefire announcement between India and Pakistan, in Srinagar May 10, 2025. REUTERS/Sharafat Ali
Politics

A nerve-wracking ceasefire holds between India and Pakistan—for now

11 May 2025

Tensions will simmer even as they step back from full-blown war

The Economist
Culture & Social Affairs

The Israel-Palestine 'conflict' through the lens of novelists

12 May 2025

Palestinian novelists continue to tell their stories, demanding the attention of a world that has often looked away. Meanwhile, Israeli writers grapple with existential questions and self-doubt.

Samir Qasimi
Brian Stauffer
Politics

What if the US-Iran talks fail?

05 May 2025

Trump's approach to Iran is high risk, high reward

Arash Azizi

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OPINIONS

Manchester United: politics, power, and the beautiful game

Ahmadu Tijan Bah

From Nixon to Clinton: Syrian-American summits since 1945

Sami Moubayed
Sami Moubayed

Ahmed al-Sharaa: Syria’s interim president with much to prove

Bilal Saab

India vs Pakistan: arsenals and military spending

Al Majalla - London
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