The crisis in Syria is affecting Kurds all over the world, primarily due to the fear that members of the Syrian government’s security forces may commit abuses amid the new offensive. Kurdish protesters took to the streets across the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq on Monday night amid increasing reports about clashes in Syria between the forces of the Syrian transitional government and those of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Amid ongoing tensions in north-eastern Syria between Kurdish militias and government forces, concerns are growing about escapes and uncontrolled releases of imprisoned fighters from the terrorist group Islamic State.

However, the SDF was led by the main Kurdish fighting force in Syria, the People’s Protection Units, known as the YPG. The dominant role of Kurdish fighters in the alliance remained a concern for the majority Sunni Arab factions and their regional backers, and internal clashes broke out on several occasions.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s borders with Syria are the “most secure and fortified.” Baghdad’s interior ministry reassured Monday. The statement comes amid ongoing military escalation in northeast Syria (Rojava),

The U.S. withdrawal of troops from Ain al-Asad Airbase was completed by Friday as part of regional consolidation following progress on ISIS as CENTCOM calls for "teamwork."

Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party said on Monday that the Turkish government had no more "excuses" to delay a peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) now that a landmark integration deal was achieved in neighbouring Syria.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Monday urged Baghdad’s security forces to raise their level of alert to protect the country after what he described as “extremists” in Syria “released outlaws” from prisons.