HOGIR ABDO

Iraqi Kurds holding lit torches walk up a mountain during a procession to celebrate their Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Akra, Iraq, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Kurds in Iraq and Syria celebrate the Newroz festival of spring at a time of new political horizons
Kurds in Iraq and Syria this week have marked the Newroz festival, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal, at a time when many are hoping that a new political beginning is on the horizon.
 
Syrian families who fled the clashes in Syria hold their luggages as they cross a river marking the border between Syria and northern Lebanon near the village of Heker al-Daher in Akkar province, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian Kurds celebrate deal with Damascus as coastal residents remain wary after violence
In northeast Syria, revelers took to the streets after the announcement of a breakthrough deal between the central government in Damascus and local Kurdish-led authorities.
 
A Turkish drone strike hits near protesters demanding an end to the war around the Tishrin Dam, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. Turkish drones and warplanes hovered during the protest, with airstrikes targeting areas near the march route, according to participants and a war monitor. The health administration in Kobani reported five civilians killed and 15 injured. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
Conflict between Turkey and Kurdish groups rises around key dam in northern Syria
A key dam in northern Syria has become a flash point in the conflict between Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed armed groups.
 
FILE - Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, speaks during a news conference in Hassakeh, Syria, Nov. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, file)
Kurdish leader in Syria calls for diplomatic solutions to conflict with Turkey
The leader of the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northeast Syria has called for international mediators to continue pushing for diplomatic solutions to the complex web of conflicts in the Middle Eastern country, including the escalating Turkish bombardment of Kurdish areas.
 
This is a locator map for Syria with its capital, Damascus. (AP Photo)
Turkey steps up airstrikes against Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq after 12 soldiers were killed
Turkey has intensified its airstrikes against Kurdish groups in Syria and northern Iraq in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers in Iraq over the weekend.
 
Hamrin Alouji, the mother of 13-year-old Peyal Aqil, goes through her daughter's photographs at their family home in Qamishli, Syria, on Monday, June 5, 2023. Alouji said her daughter was coming home with her friends on May 21 after a school exam when a recruiter for the Revolutionary Youth approached her - the youth branch of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and entered a center belonging to the group with him. Her friends waited for her outside, but she never came out. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
Recruitment of children by armed groups in Syria is on the rise, even as fighting subsides
A U.N. report says armed groups across Syria are recruiting children into their ranks in growing numbers, even as fighting is subsiding.