The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces at al-Omar oil field in Deir Al Zor, Syria, at the announcement that they had ended the Islamic State’s control of land in eastern Syria, March 23, 2019.
Reuters/Rodi Said
Kurdish women have fought on the front lines of military battles since the 19th century. A scholar explains the origins of Kurdistan's relative gender equality in a mostly conservative Muslim region.
Family members of Sunni men and boys in Iraq accused of supporting ISIS hold up pictures of their arrested relatives.
AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo
Iraq beat the Islamic State. Now, its Shia government is jailing and even executing all suspected terrorists – most of them Sunni Muslims. The clampdown may inflame a centuries-old sectarian divide.
Sheen Ibrahim, Kurdish fighter from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), walks together with other YPG fighters in Raqqa, Syria, June 16, 2017.
Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
The US is doing so with increasing frequency around the world – most recently with Kurdish fighters in Syria. A scholar explains what can go wrong, and why this approach is likely to continue.