ع
Sections
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Documents & Memoirs
Regions
  • Gulf
  • MENA
  • Europe
  • USA
  • Asia
  • World
More
  • Videos
  • Cartoons
  • World in photos
  • Infographics
  • Profiles
  • Newsletter

LATEST ISSUE

Latest Issue
Magazine Archive
النسخة العربية
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Tag
  • kurds

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 April 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 March 2025
Kurdish men in local dress in the Horaman Mountains, Iran. Open Source

Iran hunts down Kurdish Kulbars in Iraq borderlands

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.

Rustum Mahmud 23 December 2023
AFP

Peacemaker or evil genius? Kissinger’s mixed legacy in the Middle East

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

Sami Moubayed 01 December 2023
Fighters from the Kurdish Peshmerga affiliated with the Iranian separatist Kurdistan Freedom Party, at a military base near Erbil. AFP

Border tensions, Kurdish separatists and an Iranian ultimatum

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.

Rustum Mahmud 17 September 2023
Turkey: Kurdish troops (cavalry). Getty

How a string of unjust treaties shortchanged the Kurds

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.

Salih Muslim 22 July 2023
A proposal by the Autonomous Administration of North-East Syria (AANES) would also help to ease Arab fears of a Turkish incursion in northern Syria Shutterstock

Syria's Kurds offer solution for Syria

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.

Sihanouk Dibo 13 June 2023
A Pro-Kurdish Green Left Party supporter holds a portrait of former leader of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas, 49, who remains a key political figure despite being in jail since 2016. Reuters

Kurdish nationalists suffer partial setback in elections

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

Rustum Mahmud 17 May 2023
Salih Muslim

Salih Muslim welcomes Syria’s rapprochement with the Arab world

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

Ibrahim Hamidi 17 May 2023
Members of exiled Komala Party inspect aftermath of bombing in the village of Zrgoiz, near Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, where the bases of several Iranian opposition groups are located, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. An Iranian drone bombing campaign targeting the bases of an Iranian-Kurdish opposition group in northern Iraq has killed nd wounded dozens. (AP PhotoAla Hoshyar, Metrography)

Iran’s Biggest Fear: An Independent Kurdistan

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has frequently violated Iraqi sovereignty by firing missiles and drones at a number of targets in Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region (KRG…

Suzan Quitaz 30 December 2022
  •  Load More
  • Popular
  • Editor's Pick
Richard N. Haass, Senior Counsellor, Centerview Partners, speaks onstage during the Reindustrialise Conference 2025 on 17 July 2025, in Detroit, Michigan. TASOS KATOPODIS / AFP
Politics

Richard Haass on America’s changing global role

31 December 2025

In an interview with Al Majalla, the senior US diplomat says that while the US may no longer play the role of world policeman, it is not isolationist either

Ibrahim Hamidi
An aerial view shows pigeons flying over the Marjeh square in Syria's capital Damascus on 12 December 2024. OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP
Culture & Social Affairs

The history of Damascus pulses through Marjeh Square

30 December 2025

If anywhere encapsulates the Syrian capital in recent decades, it is this enigmatic and iconic public space, which has seen more than its fair share of changes

Khalil Sweileh
Politics

2025 highlights and what to look out for in 2026

30 December 2025

Al Majalla reflects on this year and the first quarter of the 21st century, highlighting standout achievements, events and trends

Al Majalla - London
Shutterstock
Business & Economy

AI in 2026: from performance to power and privilege

30 December 2025

Going forward, the key question won't be what AI can do, but how we will power it and who will be granted the privilege of working alongside it

Omar Harkous
US President Donald Trump (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) speak to reporters upon Netanyahu's arrival at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on 29 December 2025. JIM WATSON / AFP
Politics

A closer look at the Trump-Netanyahu meeting reveals gaps

01 January 2026

The two appeared to be in lockstep in many areas, but dig deep, and you will see where they don't align. So, what does this mean for the region? Al Majalla explains.

Elie Kossaifi

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter

Get the best of Al Majalla, straight to your inbox.

Your newsletter subscriptions are subject to Al Majalla privacy policy and terms and conditions.

OPINIONS

Venezuela under attack. How did we get here?

Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra
Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra

Richard Haass on America’s changing global role

Ibrahim Hamidi
Ibrahim Hamidi

Alawite protests return. But this time, they turn deadly.

Haid Haid
Haid Haid

Brexit has deepened the UK economy’s flaws and dulled its strengths

The Economist
The Economist
MORE FROM OPINIONS
logo
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Documents & Memoirs
  • Gulf
  • MENA
  • Europe
  • USA
  • Asia
  • World
  • Videos
  • Cartoons
  • World in photos
  • Infographics
  • Profiles
  • About Al Majalla
  • Al Majalla Team
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact us
logo

© Al Majalla Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

0:00:00
0:00:00