kurdish rights

The Iranian government has carried out the execution of Abdoljalil Shahbakhsh, linked to the Ansar al-Furqan militant group, as a response to his participation in violent clashes with law enforcement during the protests of 2022-2023.

Iran executed at least 1,639 people in 2025, a 68% increase and the highest number since 1989, according to human rights groups. This surge, with over four executions daily, is seen as a tool to instil fear and deter dissent, disproportionately affecting minorities and those linked in anti-government protests.

The Middle East's conflicts are analyzed through the lens of 'proxies and levers,' where state actors use non-state groups to project power and achieve strategic goals. This approach, while avoiding direct military costs, often results in prolonged violence, instability, and humanitarian crises, complicating peace efforts in the region.

Israel planned to galvanise opposition to the Iranian government to spark a collapse. Now, the belief that Israel and the US could help instigate widespread revolt in Iran seems to be a foundational flaw in the war

Members of France's Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined together in mourning and anger on Saturday in Paris after three people were killed at a Kurdish cultural center in an attack that prosecutors say was racially motivated. The shooting in a bustling neighborhood of central Paris also wounded three people, and stirred up concerns about hate crimes against minority groups.

The PKK Kurdish militant group has declared its intention to disband and disarm, potentially ending a decades-long conflict with Turkey. This decision follows calls from imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and could significantly impact Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

A delegation from northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration was headed to Damascus on Saturday for talks on implementing a March deal to integrate Kurdish institutions into the state, a member of the delegation said.that "a delegation from the autonomous administration is on the way to Damascus to discuss" details of the March deal.

An Iranian Kurdish activist was extradited from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region back to Iran, the opposition group he belongs to said on Saturday, an account disputed by local authorities. Local security forces, called Asayesh, said Khosrawi was arrested "because he did not have residency" in the Kurdish region, denying he had any connection to "political activism".

But local authorities in the northern region of Afrin and a Syrian rights group said it was an informal cemetery and not a mass grave, disputing Turkey's accusations.

Farhad Shami, a Kurdish activist in Kobani reached by phone from Beirut, said that the town was now “relatively quiet” on Sunday apart from sniper fire.

A powerful bomb exploded Tuesday in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkish-backed opposition fighters, killing at least 20 civilians, Turkey's state-run news agency reported.

Turkey intensifies airstrikes against Kurdish groups in Syria and northern Iraq in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers. The Turkish defense ministry reports killing at least 26 militants. Turkish airstrikes in northeast Syria result in the deaths of at least 8 civilians and the injury of 12 others. The strikes also target oil industry sites, health facilities, and vital infrastructure, reducing electricity production by 50%. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdish administration call for UN intervention to address the escalating violence.

Iran's strike late Sunday killed a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, said Mohammed Nazif Qaderi, a senior official in the Kurdish Iranian group exiled in Iraq. The group said Iranian surface-to-surface missiles and drones hit its bases and adjacent refugee camps in Koya and Jejnikan. The group also asserted that the strikes had hit a hospital in Koya.

A drone attack on a Syrian military academy in Homs has left over 100 people dead, including 14 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The attack was carried out by "armed terrorist organisations" using explosive-laden drones, according to the Syrian army. Meanwhile, Turkish strikes on military and infrastructure targets in Kurdish-held northeast Syria killed at least nine people, including six members of the internal security agency. The strikes came after Turkey threatened raids in retaliation for a bomb attack.

Iranian security forces have killed 72 people, including 56 in Kurdish-populated areas, in the past week alone in their crackdown on the protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, a rights group said Tuesday.