Ethnic/Religious Minorities

A Kurdish fighter from the Iranian Kurdish armed faction Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) stands with his rifle at a site near the Iraqi border with Iran in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on March 8, 2026.

Interview

PJAK leader mocks Iran’s claim Turkey spiked US Kurdish-backed regime-change plan

The PJAK co-leader says he does not believe Washington or Israel would abandon a strategic objective as significant as toppling Iran's government because of Turkish objections.

Siamand Moeini

Siamand Moeini

PJAK Executive Council Member

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) welcomes France's President Emmanuel Macron for a joint press conference in Damascus on July 7, 2026.

Explainer

How Macron seeks to carve out France's role in new Syria

French President Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to visit Syria since the fall of the Assad regime, showcasing Paris' support for Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa while seeking to secure a share of the country's emerging reconstruction market.

Volunteers of the Druze-led National Guard manage traffic at a checkpoint, Suwayda, Syria, Jan. 22, 2026.

Clashes between Druze fighters, Syrian forces raise fears of renewed violence

The episodes in Druze-majority Suwayda escalated amid kidnappings, various disputes, and absent movement on integrating Druze into state institutions.

A Druze fighter stands at a roundabout draped with the Druze flag and a portrait of a local leader in the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda in southern Syria on July 21, 2025.

Druze gunmen, Syrian government forces clash in Suwayda: What to know

The United Nations recently said that the government has thus far failed to bring calm to the area of southern Syria following sectarian clashes last year.

Latest News

3 IRGC members killed in twin attacks as Iran intensifies Kurdish crackdown

Members of the crowd wave Iranian flags during a funeral procession held for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri.

Explainer

Israel's Armenian genocide recognition marks new front against Turkey

Members of the Jerusalem Armenian community hold placards as they march during commemorations for the 94th anniversary of mass killings of their kin under the Ottoman Empire, Jerusalem's Old City, April 24, 2009.

Culture

Turkey’s Erdogan meets Orthodox patriarch amid push for reopening Halki Seminary

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Orthodox Patriarch of Bartholomew at the presidential complex, Ankara, Turkey, June 16, 2026.

Feature

Backed by Trump and Turkey, Armenia's Pashinyan eyes third term in pivotal poll

US President Donald Trump (L) welcomes Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 8, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Pope Francis dismisses uncertainty over upcoming Iraq trip

Francis' visit to the country next month will mark the first time a pope has visited Iraq.

Pope Francis, Shiite leader al-Sistani to meet in historic Iraq trip

Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are scheduled to meet in the Iraqi city of Najaf during the first papal visit to the country.

Biden ends Trump’s ban on travel from Muslim-majority countries

Immigration advocates hailed Biden's decision, but said undoing the effects of the travel ban won’t happen overnight.

Nubian girls play outside their home in the village of Abu Simbel in Egypt's far south, over 1100 kilometres south of the capital Cairo and near the border with Sudan, on February 4, 2020. - The Nubian language, according to locals, is unpractised by many in the generation born decades after their mass eviction from their ancestral lands to make way for the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile in the 1960s. Built under Egypt's late president Gamal Abdel Nasser, the colossal project aimed to harnes

Egypt’s Nubians get second chance at requesting compensation

On the occasion of the anniversary of laying the foundation stone of the Aswan dam, the Egyptian state opened the door to the second phase of the compensation paid for the Nubians who were displaced from their lands.

Coptic Orthodox worshippers attend Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Egypt's administrative capital, 45 kms east of Cairo, on January 6, 2020. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Acquittal in assault of Christian woman casts pall over Christmas for Egypt's Coptic community

The acquittal by a Minya court of three defendants who in May 2016 stripped an elderly Christian woman naked and dragged her through the streets of her village has provoked outrage among Christians and rights groups.

Palestinian Orthodox Christians attend a Christmas Mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City on January 7, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Christians in Gaza celebrate gloomy Christmas this year

Christians in the Gaza Strip will be celebrating Christmas at home this year in light of the lockdown and travel restrictions imposed to stem the skyrocketing number of coronavirus cases.

Iran's Christians face renewed fears ahead of Christmas

The case of Dabrina Bet Tamraz and her parents highlights a string of crackdowns against Evangelical and Protestant Christians across the country that have forced many to flee.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - DECEMBER 03: Newly arrived Jewish Ethiopian immigrants walk on a red carpet upon landing in Israel on a special flight from Ethiopia on December 3, 2020 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Several hundred members of the Falash Mura community of Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel as part of ongoing relocation initiative. Ethiopian Israeli activists are pressing the Israeli government to admit more Ethiopian Jews to resettle there, to escape persecution at home. Israel generally recognizes the Falash Mura a

After years of waiting, Ethiopian Jews arrive to Israel

One hundred Ethiopian Jews are set to arrive to Israel today, as part of Operation Rock of Israel that was launched yesterday, to bring home 2,000 members of the community.

Intel: US blames ‘scheduling issue’ for no Pompeo-Erdogan meeting

A State Department official said Pompeo's "tight schedule" will keep him from meeting Turkish officials when in Istanbul next week.

Egyptian, Iranian leaders criticize French president over comments on freedom of expression

French President Emmanuel Macron angered many Muslim leaders when he defended images of the prophet of Islam after a Parisian teacher was beheaded for showing such images.

In New York Jewish communities, similarities to Israel's virus struggle

Israeli media are covering the conflict over coronavirus measures in New York's Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, and the issue bears resemblance to Israel's virus situation.

Baghdad, Erbil reach security, administrative agreement on Sinjar district

The deal will address major security and structural obstacles, but local communities criticize the accord for failing to bring their people to the table.