Author: M Barbu

Property Restitution, Security Conditions, and Minority Rights in Northwest Syria

The Afrin Region and the Kurdish Populations

The following report, commissioned as a field assignment by the Middle East Forum, is an in-depth examination of the Afrin region located in northwest Syria along the border with Turkey. The region is known for having had a majority Kurdish population prior to the war and up to 2018, when much of the Kurdish population was displaced during an offensive led by Turkish-backed Syrian insurgents who, operating under the framework of operation “Olive Branch,” seized control of the area. This report, based on interviews conducted with Syrian government officials in the Afrin region, travel within the region, and other sources, focuses on the situation following the Assad regime’s fall, particularly the prospect for the return of the original displaced Kurdish population. The report also analyzes the status of the Afrin region’s small Yezidi minority.

Under the new arrangements, the legal status of these prisons and detention centers will be restructured within a unified judicial and penal framework overseen by the state and the Ministry of Justice, Syria TV reports.

The transfer of authority over detention centers holding members of the so-called Islamic State, along with associated security camps, from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to the Syrian government marks a profound shift in the management of one of Syria’s most sensitive and complex security files.

Turkey is opposed to any military intervention in Iran and its priority is to avoid destabilisation there, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday, as Tehran continues its crackdown on protests.

With Iran’s leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, and with U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to intervene on behalf of the protesters, Tehran has warned its neighbours including Turkey that it would hit American bases if Washington were to strike.

‘What gets confused here is that hardships people face due to economic and other difficulties can appear as ideological uprising against regime; in reality, this constitutes grey area,’ Fidan says

ISTANBUL

Türkiye is opposed to “any military intervention” against Iran, said the Turkish foreign minister on Thursday, urging Tehran to resolve its “own internal problems by itself.”

The Islamic Iran Nation’s Union Party sought the release of secretary-general Azar Mansouri, the Shargh newspaper said on Monday, after her arrest along with other members of the Reform Front, an umbrella body of Iranian reformists and moderates.

Trente-sept enfants ont été tués à Gaza cette année, tandis que le système scolaire est quasiment anéanti. Israël approuve des mesures d’expansion des colonies en Cisjordanie, et la Palestine demande une réunion urgente de la Ligue arabe en réponse. Le Premier ministre israélien, Benjamin Netanyahu, s’entretiendra cette semaine à Washington avec le président américain Donald Trump au sujet de l’Iran. Un homme du Minnesota a été grièvement blessé lors d’une arrestation controversée par l’ICE. Le DHS a utilisé les données de Google pour suivre un homme qui avait envoyé un courriel à un procureur au sujet d’une demande d’asile. Les membres du Congrès vont commencer à examiner les documents Epstein non expurgés. Des courriels d’Epstein font état d’une rencontre avec Mohammed ben Salmane quelques jours avant l’assassinat de Jamal Khashoggi. Cuba avertit les compagnies aériennes d’une pénurie imminente de kérosène, alors que la pression américaine sur le secteur de l’énergie s’intensifie. La Turquie arrête des membres présumés d’une cellule d’espionnage israélienne ciblant les Palestiniens et leurs chaînes d’approvisionnement. L’Éthiopie exige le retrait des troupes érythréennes, mettant en garde contre une dangereuse escalade. Des frappes israéliennes dans le sud du Liban ont tué quatre personnes, dont un enfant de trois ans. Des tirs de drones et de missiles russes ont tué des civils et provoqué des coupures de courant en Ukraine. Des dizaines de personnes sont portées disparues et présumées mortes après le naufrage d’une embarcation de migrants au large des côtes libyennes. L’Iran alourdit de plus de sept ans la peine de prison de Narges Mohammadi, lauréate du prix Nobel. Des charniers ont été découverts sur le campus universitaire soudanais utilisé par les RSF pendant les combats. Des dissensions internes au sein du parti au pouvoir au Venezuela font état de tensions suite à la capture de Nicolás Maduro, selon un nouveau rapport.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government is facing intense criticism over its failure to swiftly outlaw Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The development comes as a London-based Islamic center has been accused of selling merchandise supporting terrorism.

“[T]he document outlines an operational framework in which the technocratic government appears to function, while the actual management of systems, the flow of information, and control over the civil administration remain in Hamas’s hands.” – Elior Levy, Channel 11 Kan News, February 2, 2026.

Hamas wants Trump’s Board of Peace and the technocratic committee to focus on reconstruction, economic projects, and paying salaries to Palestinian civil servants while it continues, through a shadow government, to effectively rule the Gaza Strip, manufacture stockpile weaponry and prepare for a new attack on Israel, similar to its October 7, 2023 invasion of Israel’s southern communities.