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Erdogan Vows to Clear Turkey-Syria Border of Kurds

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters file photo
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters file photo
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Erdogan Vows to Clear Turkey-Syria Border of Kurds

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters file photo
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters file photo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to clear what he called "terrorists" from the towns of Afrin, Manbij, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ain and Qamishli in northern Syria.

Speaking during a Justice and Development Party (AKP) local meeting on Sunday in Karaman, south of Turkey, Erdogan stressed "the drama" in Raqqa proved without any doubt that ISIS and the People's Protection Units (YPG) are two sides of the same coin. He added that orders for one party to leave and the other to control the area where issued from the same side.

Media reports said that the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the international coalition, allowed ISIS militants besieged in Raqqa to withdraw under a similar agreement that occurred between “Hezbollah” and the terrorist organization on Lebanon-Syria border.

Erdogan warned that there are attempts to create enmity between the peoples of the region, even within the same city, stressing that ISIS, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Turkey and Syria are part of that.

Erdogan also stated that the United States supplied PYD with more than 4,000 trucks loaded with arms and equipment, including heavy weapons.

In other news, local sources in Syria confirmed that Iran began using the land route between Tehran and the Mediterranean Sea through Iraq and Syria.

According to Anadolu Agency, a convoy composed of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), entered Syrian territory through the city of Albu Kamal and headed towards Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria.

With that, Tehran would have already began using the Tehran-Damascus line for military purposes and ensured its military presence in Syria.

In addition, Syrian regime forces and PMF controlled areas located on both sides of the border between the two countries.

Earlier in November, Syrian regime gained control of the city of Albu Kamal, ISIS’ last stronghold in Syria, while members of Iraqi PMF took over the other side of the border between Iraq and Syria.

A spokesman for the Revolutionary Commando Army, an opposition Syrian faction operating in eastern Syria, stated that the faction was ready to work with the United Nations to secure any aid convoy.

"Humanitarian aid is welcome to cross within the 55 km zone, an area protected by al-Tanf camp," tweeted the official.

In southern Syria, "Furat Post"correspondent reported that "al-Omari Brigades" arrested six militants in the western town of al-Milyha and al-Shiyaha town in al-Lujat area of Daraa western countryside. The leader of the group was also arrested after raiding their outposts. The militants will be handed over to the authorities for investigation.

The journalist also pointed out that the group admitted to coordinating with regime forces, in addition to “Hezbollah.” It also admitted to carrying out a number of assassinations in liberated areas, in addition to planting IEDs and targeting Free Army fighters and leaders, including Saqr al-Mashwar, commander of al-Omari Brigades, in bombing attacks.

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Arab World

Four Explosions Heard in Iraq's Erbil

FILED - 11 March 2026, Iraq, Erbil: PAK Peshmerga members stand inside a family home destroyed by strikes at the PAKShar camp in Erbil's Ashkawt Saqa district. Photo: Ismael Adnan/dpa
FILED - 11 March 2026, Iraq, Erbil: PAK Peshmerga members stand inside a family home destroyed by strikes at the PAKShar camp in Erbil's Ashkawt Saqa district. Photo: Ismael Adnan/dpa
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Four Explosions Heard in Iraq's Erbil

FILED - 11 March 2026, Iraq, Erbil: PAK Peshmerga members stand inside a family home destroyed by strikes at the PAKShar camp in Erbil's Ashkawt Saqa district. Photo: Ismael Adnan/dpa
FILED - 11 March 2026, Iraq, Erbil: PAK Peshmerga members stand inside a family home destroyed by strikes at the PAKShar camp in Erbil's Ashkawt Saqa district. Photo: Ismael Adnan/dpa

At least four explosions were heard on Wednesday in the city of Erbil in the autonomous Kurdistan region, AFP journalists reported.

It was not immediately clear what the target was. From a suburb of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, AFP journalists saw interceptions of projectiles over the city, which is home to a major US consulate complex, while its airport houses US-led coalition troops.

Iraq was drawn into the Middle East war after having long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran.

Strikes have targeted Iran-backed groups, which in turn have claimed daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region.

Since the start of the war, the coalition's air defenses have repeatedly downed drones over Erbil.

In the past few days daily explosions have been heard over the city, although mostly in the evening.

On Tuesday night, the powerful Iran-backed armed group Kataeb Hezbollah condemned the US presence in Iraq and demanded that every "foreign soldier" leave the country.

The group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Washington, is part of an umbrella movement known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has been claiming daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and the region, and which has always demanded the withdrawal of US troops from the country.

 

 

 

 

Arab World

At Least 17 Dead in Fighting on Sudan's Border with Chad

Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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At Least 17 Dead in Fighting on Sudan's Border with Chad

Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

The latest heavy fighting between warring parties along Sudan’s border with Chad has killed 17 people and many wounded, a medical group said.

The attacks on Monday in Tina left 66 people in serious condition, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, said in a post on X late Tuesday.

The army said in an update that the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, had expanded its attacks on military areas in Tina, but that troops were able to repel them and forced them to withdraw.

The attacks were part of intensified fighting near the border between the army and the RSF, who have been at war since April 2023. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, according to UN figures, but aid groups say the true number could be much higher.

Tina is one of the last areas still being held by the Sudanese military in the sprawling Darfur region, which has been under RSF control since October 2025.

The nearby Tine crossing was also used as the sole route for cross-border humanitarian aid and delivery from Chad when Adre border crossing was temporarily closed in recent years.

Chad said last month it had closed its border with Sudan “until further notice'' in an attempt to limit the spread of conflict into its territory.

Those injured in Monday’s attacks were treated by MSF teams and Chadian health services at a new hospital in Tine, Chad, The Associated Press reported.

A MSF staffer at the hospital said doctors are treating patients without water or electricity and are relying on generators and solar panels. Stockpiles of medicine are also said to be running low because of the influx of new patients.

Chad closed its border for a period shortly after Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023, when a power struggle between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.

The Darfur and Kordofan regions became the epicenter of the Sudan war, with deadly drone attacks frequently reported in Kordofan. A surge in drone strikes in the Sudanese region of Kordofan has taken a growing toll on civilians and hampered aid operations, analysts and humanitarian workers previously said.

Arab World

France Says It’s Unreasonable to Expect Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah Amid Bombing

People walk amidst debris at the site of an Israeli strike, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Zuqaq al-Blat district in central Beirut, Lebanon, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk amidst debris at the site of an Israeli strike, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Zuqaq al-Blat district in central Beirut, Lebanon, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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France Says It’s Unreasonable to Expect Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah Amid Bombing

People walk amidst debris at the site of an Israeli strike, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Zuqaq al-Blat district in central Beirut, Lebanon, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk amidst debris at the site of an Israeli strike, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Zuqaq al-Blat district in central Beirut, Lebanon, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)

It is unreasonable to expect the Lebanese government to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah while the country is being bombed by Israel, France's special envoy for Lebanon said on Wednesday.

Jean-Yves Le Drian said only negotiations would resolve the crisis, in which Lebanese authorities say over 900 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since Hezbollah entered the regional war in support of Tehran.

"Israel occupied Lebanon for a very long time and failed to eradicate Hezbollah's military capacity. Therefore, they cannot now ask ‌the Lebanese government ‌to do that job in three days under bombardment," he ‌told ⁠France Info radio.

Israel ⁠has rebuffed an offer of direct talks from Beirut as too little, too late by a government that shares its goal of wanting Hezbollah disarmed but fears that acting against it could risk civil war, sources familiar with the situation said.

President Joseph Aoun has expressed a willingness to begin direct negotiations with Israel, which has carried out airstrikes in Lebanon since Hezbollah fired on Israel on March 2. Hezbollah has rejected the move and fought on.

FRANCE SEEKS MEDIATING ⁠ROLE

France has historical ties with Lebanon and, with the United States, ‌has sought to mediate in the conflict.

"There is ‌a process of negotiation and discussion that is possible, but all the parties must want it," Le ‌Drian said.

France last week presented counter-proposals to US ideas to bring an end to ‌the conflict, two diplomats said.

Three diplomats said the US had been lukewarm to the proposals, but discussions with Washington were continuing. Israel has rejected the proposals, they said.

According to an informal document seen by Reuters, France's position centers around a three-month period to end hostilities and move towards a comprehensive ‌and permanent non-aggression pact between Lebanon and Israel.

It includes demarcation of the land border and deployment of troops from a coalition of ⁠volunteers mandated by ⁠the UN Security Council to verify disarmament in the rest of Lebanon.

It also sets out proposals ranging from an Israeli withdrawal from various points in Lebanon to reconstruction efforts and commitments to reform Lebanon's economy.

"Lebanon and Israel would declare that the state of war between them has come to an end and commit to refraining from any use of force against one another," the document says.

"Both sides would undertake to establish peaceful security arrangements along the border and to address disputes exclusively through diplomatic channels and agreed mechanisms."

Lebanon's inability to rein in Hezbollah following a 2024 ceasefire agreement brokered by the US and France to end an earlier conflict has raised questions about Beirut's credibility at negotiations.

France foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, is expected to visit Lebanon soon, diplomatic sources said. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday Israel's government was not planning direct talks with Lebanon in coming days.