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Two PKK Leaders Killed Near Sulaymaniyah

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters are pictured in Sinjar, northwest Iraq, on March 11, 2015. Asmaa Waguih/Reuters
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters are pictured in Sinjar, northwest Iraq, on March 11, 2015. Asmaa Waguih/Reuters
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Two PKK Leaders Killed Near Sulaymaniyah

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters are pictured in Sinjar, northwest Iraq, on March 11, 2015. Asmaa Waguih/Reuters
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters are pictured in Sinjar, northwest Iraq, on March 11, 2015. Asmaa Waguih/Reuters

Two senior Kurdistan Communities Group (KCK) were killed while on Mount Azmar overlooking the city of Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan Region’s Asayesh (Security) announced on Tuesday following an investigation.

In its statement on Tuesday, the committee said that they were killed in a vague explosion on Oct.15, demanding that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan command provide justifications regarding the incident.

Initially, Sulaimaniyah's security forces labeled it an explosion and did not allow media to go to the scene. On Tuesday, they provided more details, stating that it was a targeted killing of senior PKK members.

“On October 15, 2019, between hours 17:10 to 17:15, two senior cadres of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) named Jameel and Demhat, atop Mount Azmar in a tourist location among civilians, were barbarically targeted,” Kurdistan Region’s Asayesh Agency announced in a statement on Tuesday.

Following “sophisticated and dense investigations” on the “crime scene”, they uncovered the identity of the targeted to be members of the KCK, an umbrella group under which PKK and its affiliated groups fall.

“While they had gone into that area without notifying the relevant authorities of the Kurdistan Region, they were targeted by a Turkish drone while among civilians and in the city of Sulaimaniyah at a tourist location,” added the Asayesh.

The statement called on the legislative and executive regional authorities to clarify the ramifications of the incident and announce them transparently.

PUK spokesman Latif Sheikh Omer stated that the incident has security prospects. Analysts said that the operation has likely been conducted by a grenade that was closely thrown at the two men since the operation can’t be carried out by a drone.

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Arab World

Israel Says Hezbollah Trying to Rebuild, Smuggle in Arms from Syria

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Tayr Debba town in southern Lebanon, 06 November 2025. (EPA)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Tayr Debba town in southern Lebanon, 06 November 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Says Hezbollah Trying to Rebuild, Smuggle in Arms from Syria

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Tayr Debba town in southern Lebanon, 06 November 2025. (EPA)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Tayr Debba town in southern Lebanon, 06 November 2025. (EPA)

The Israeli military accused Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on Tuesday of seeking to rebuild its combat abilities in south Lebanon to the point of threatening Israel's security and undoing last year's ceasefire deal.

Military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said Iranian-backed Hezbollah was operating south of the Litani River in violation of the truce accord and that Israeli forces were conducting strikes on Hezbollah targets in that area. Hezbollah says it is committed to the ceasefire deal.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam say Israel is violating the truce deal, pointing to the occupation of five hilltop positions in southern Lebanon by Israeli troops as well as Israeli air strikes and deadly ground incursions into Lebanese territory.

TENSION OVER DISARMAMENT PUSH

Shoshani told a news briefing that Hezbollah was also trying to smuggle in weapons from Syria and via other routes to Lebanon. "We are working to prevent that from happening and to block the ground routes from Syria into Lebanon to a high level of success, but they still pose a threat to us," Shoshani said.

"We are committed to the agreement but it must be held. We will not return to the reality of October 7 (2023) with a threat of thousands of terrorists on our border within walking distance of our civilians."

Hezbollah denies it is rebuilding its military capabilities in south Lebanon. It has not fired at Israel since the ceasefire came into force, and Lebanese security officials told Reuters that Hezbollah has not obstructed Lebanese army operations to find and confiscate the group's weapons in the country's south.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, Hezbollah head Sheikh Naim Qassem said Hezbollah remained committed to the 2024 ceasefire and that there was "no alternative" to that deal.

He said if Israel withdrew, stopped its attacks on Lebanon and released Lebanese nationals detained in Israel, then northern Israeli towns would have "no problem" with security.

But he reiterated Hezbollah's rejection of full disarmament and said Israel's destructive and deadly strikes "cannot continue", adding: "There is a limit to everything."

Israel has been pressing Lebanon's army to be more aggressive in disarming Hezbollah by searching private homes in the south for weaponry, according to Lebanese and Israeli officials.

The army is confident it can declare Lebanon's south free of Hezbollah arms by the end of 2025, but has refused to search private dwellings for fear of reigniting civil strife and derailing a disarmament strategy seen by the army as cautious but effective, Lebanese security officials told Reuters.

Hezbollah was severely weakened in a year-long war that saw an Israeli incursion into south Lebanon backed by heavy air strikes, but still wields considerable power among Shiites in Lebanon's fragile sectarian-based system of governance.

Arab World

For Many Syrians, Sharaa's US Visit Marks New Beginning

A Syrian flag is displayed outside the White House following the meeting of US President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A Syrian flag is displayed outside the White House following the meeting of US President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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For Many Syrians, Sharaa's US Visit Marks New Beginning

A Syrian flag is displayed outside the White House following the meeting of US President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A Syrian flag is displayed outside the White House following the meeting of US President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 10, 2025. (Reuters)

On the streets of Damascus on Tuesday, Syrians viewed their leader's visit to Washington as a shift towards the West that could pave the way to reviving the country's war-battered economy.

On Monday, Donald Trump received Ahmed al-Sharaa, a first for a Syrian head of state since independence in 1946.

"God willing, this visit will be a new beginning for Syria and an opening to the world after years of isolation," law student Boushra Abdel Bari said.

"We hope that this visit... will facilitate the reconstruction of Syria with the United States and the rest of the world."

As Sharaa made his historic visit to Washington, the State Department announced a pause of US sanctions under the Caesar Act, pending their possible permanent lifting by Congress.

The law imposed wide-ranging sanctions on investment in Syria in an effort to ensure accountability over abuses under Assad, banning the country from the global banking system.

Historically, Syria has been in the orbit of first the Soviet Union then Russia, which was autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad's main ally during more than 13 years of civil war.

But since overthrowing Assad in December 2024, the interim Syrian president has made numerous overtures to the West and Gulf, while being careful not to burn his bridges with Moscow.

For Abdel Bari, Assad's ally Russia "has brought us nothing but ruin and destruction."

Omar Nassar, a 36-year-old printer, also welcomed Syria's move towards the Western camp.

"Syria paid the price for aligning itself with the socialist camp in the past... and was isolated from its Arab and international environment," he said.

"We are very optimistic after this visit. We expect positive repercussions in the economic and diplomatic spheres."

Saddam Hajjar, who runs a coffee kiosk in the Syrian capital, also believed that "things are getting better".

"We hope to be part of the new Middle East in the future," he said. "The Syrian people deserve a better life after making so many sacrifices."

Assad's fall ended a civil war that lasted more than 13 years, which broke out after the government cracked down on a peaceful uprising in 2011.

The war killed more than half a million people, displaced or forced millions of Syrians into exile, and brought the economy to its knees.

Layal Kaddour, a 25-year-old NGO worker, thought the visit to Washington was "a bold political move" that broke years of isolation.

"The possible repercussions are an easing of sanctions and the opening up of economic prospects," she said.

But she wondered if her country will now be "subject to international pressure that would influence independent political decision-making," alluding to concerns about US pressure on Syria to make peace with Israel, which has long been an enemy.

Arab World

UN Aid Chief Hails Talks with Sudan Army Leader

A Sudanese refugee speaks on the phone at the Tine transit camp in Chad on November 8, 2025. (AFP)
A Sudanese refugee speaks on the phone at the Tine transit camp in Chad on November 8, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Aid Chief Hails Talks with Sudan Army Leader

A Sudanese refugee speaks on the phone at the Tine transit camp in Chad on November 8, 2025. (AFP)
A Sudanese refugee speaks on the phone at the Tine transit camp in Chad on November 8, 2025. (AFP)

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher held Tuesday what he called "constructive" talks with Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to ensure life-saving aid reaches all corners of the war-ravaged country.

Since April 2023, the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, creating one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

"I very much welcome the constructive conversations with President Burhan this afternoon, aimed at ensuring we can continue to operate everywhere across Sudan to deliver in a neutral, independent and impartial way for all those in such dire need," Fletcher said in a video released by Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council.

The UN official's comments came after he met with Burhan in Port Sudan, the de facto capital.

During the meeting, Burhan asserted "Sudan's keenness on cooperating with the United Nations and its various agencies," according to the army-backed council.

Fletcher, who arrived in Sudan on Tuesday for a week-long mission, said on X he would work "to stop the atrocities, back peace efforts, uphold the UN charter, and push for our teams to get the access and funding they need to save lives across the battle lines."

The talks come two weeks after the RSF captured el-Fasher, the last army stronghold in western Darfur.

Burhan had previously vowed his forces would "take revenge" and fight "until this land is purified."

On Tuesday, Fletcher also met top Egyptian and Sudanese diplomats in Port Sudan, according to a statement from Cairo's foreign ministry.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called for "strengthening the international response to the current crisis and ensuring humanitarian aid reaches the most affected groups."

Despite the RSF agreeing to a truce mediated by the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt last Thursday, attacks have continued.

On the day paramilitaries agreed to the truce, the Sudanese Doctors' Union said the RSF shelled a hospital in South Kordofan, killing five, while explosions were heard in Khartoum the following day.