Kobani’s new administrative formula shows what post-SDF integration looks like
The new administrative lineup in Kobani is beginning to reveal the kind of formula emerging in the district after the…
Exposed and Disposable: Why Iranian Kurdish Groups May Be the War’s Biggest Losers
As the United States and Iran are reported to have reached a tentative two-week ceasefire, attention is already turning to…
Why Iran’s Sunni Kurdish Islamists Are Not Joining the Anti-Regime War
One of the misleading assumptions on the Iran war is that the Sunni Kurdish belt should naturally drift toward any…
Written by
Arivan
How the Strikes on Iraq’s Militias Followed the Country’s Divide
The pattern that emerged in the strikes on pro-Iran Iraqi militias between February 28 and March 11 was striking not only for the number of attacks but for where they…
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Arivan
A Sanctioned Broker, an Iranian Intelligence Link, and the Barzani Company Between Them
Court filings, leaked records, and UK and EU sanctions designations are building a picture of how a Barzani-linked financial system moved oil and money beyond the reach of scrutiny.
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Written by
Arivan
What happens to PKK strongholds in the Kurdistan Region after the PKK vacates them?
One year after Abdullah Ocalan’s call to the PKK to disarm, the peace process has entered a phase in which the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is the physical stage on…
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Written by
Arivan
Turkey’s PKK Peace Commission Adopts a Disarmament Framework and a Regional Doctrine
Turkey’s parliamentary peace commission, established to chart a political and legal path out of the decades-long conflict with the PKK, adopted its landmark report on 18 February 2026, laying out an architecture…
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Arivan
Mazloum Abdi at Munich: What It Was, and What It Was Not
Mazloum Abdi’s participation in the Munich Security Conference mattered, but it must be understood within its proper context. Inflating its significance risks pushing expectations beyond what the conference, or the…
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Written by
Arivan
What the SDF-Damascus Deal Really Says About Kurdish Autonomy
As more details of the SDF-Damascus agreement become available, the contours of the deal can be summarised in five points: 1. Integration and the Hasakah division. The text states that…
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Written by
Arivan
How Turkey Turned the Smelka Crossing Into One of the Middle East’s Most Surveilled Borders
As intermittent clashes in Syria’s Hasakah province move closer to Al-Jawadiyah (known in Kurdish as Çil Axa), a key route connecting the Smelka border crossing between Iraq’s Kurdistan Region and…
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