TD Original

Kurds in the Crossfire

Matt Broomfield / Truthdig May 7, 2026 The Kurds are on the front lines of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. After their betrayal in Syria, can they survive another fight? Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

TD Original

Surrounded and Abandoned, Rojava Faces Slaughter

Matt Broomfield / Truthdig Jan 22, 2026 The U.S. terminates its decade-old relationship with Syria’s secular, feminist, Kurdish forces, leaving them once again to face an Islamist assault. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Books

Hope Without Hope in Rojava

Matt Broomfield / AK Press Jul 18, 2025 The Kurdish movement’s radical response to death may hold lessons for those offering up resistance in other parts of the world. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

Military

The Stars Align for Trump’s Troop Withdrawal From Syria

Matt Broomfield / Responsible Statecraft Apr 25, 2025 It probably won't lead to the violence and humiliation of other botched departures, including from the same region in 2019. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

TD Original

Rojava on the Brink

Matt Broomfield / Truthdig Feb 13, 2025 Turkish airstrikes and an Islamist power in Damascus endanger the future of Syrian Kurdistan’s multiethnic democratic federation. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

Middle East

Syria’s Arab Spring Has Arrived

Juan Cole / Informed Comment Dec 9, 2024 With Bashar al-Assad out of the picture, can democracy finally prevail in this deeply divided nation? Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

TD Original

From Heroes to Suspects: The Betrayal of the Anti-ISIS International Brigade

Matt Broomfield / Truthdig Sep 23, 2024 A decade after their celebrated victories, the foreign volunteers who helped defeat ISIS wage lonely battles against PTSD and harassment by Western governments. Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )

Books

Can the Kurdish Women’s Movement Transform the Middle East?

Matthew Broomfield / The Markaz Review Aug 9, 2023 Matthew Broomfield has reported from Kurdish-led North and East Syria. He reviews Dilar Dirik’s study on the Kurdish Women’s Movement. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Pity the Kurds

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Oct 21, 2019 Donald Trump’s betrayal of our allies in northern Syria is part of a pattern by nation-states that have used the Kurds and abandoned them. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Syrian Kurds Ask Assad to Save Them From Turkey

Juan Cole / Informed Comment Jan 26, 2018 The hopes of the Trump administration to use the Syrian Kurds as a wedge against the government of Bashar Assad in Damascus may be rapidly fading. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

America’s Syria Trap

Maj. Danny Sjursen / Truthdig Jan 24, 2018 Once again, the United States is in the middle of a byzantine quagmire in the Middle East that could get worse. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Turkey Begins Military Operation Against U.S.-Allied Kurds in Syria

Juan Cole / Informed Comment Jan 20, 2018 The move comes after the U.S. announces it will arm and train a Kurdish force to police Syria’s borders to ensure Islamic State does not re-emerge. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )