News stories by Karlos Zurutuza, page 7

QAMISHLI, Syria, Nov 04 (IPS) - "I got married when I was 14 and I already had four children at 20," recalls Nafia Brahim. In her fifties now, she is working hard so that no other woman loses control of her life.

QAMISHLI, Syria, Oct 31 (IPS) - "The whole region is under control but be careful in the city centre," says a Kurdish militiaman at the eastern gate of Qamishli, 600 km northeast of capital Damascus, confirming rumours about breaches in Syria's relatively stable northeast.

QAMISHLI, Syria, Oct 25 (IPS) - Kurdish fighters have emerged as a powerful player in the Syrian war thanks to the Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (YPG - "People's Protection Units"), a seemingly well-organised armed group which has so far proved capable of defending the territory it claims in northern Syria.

DERIK, Syria, Oct 13 (IPS) - After fleeing the war three months ago, Gulnaz is headed back for Syria to bury her brother within the 24 hours Islam stipulates. But it is far from easy to take the coffin across the Syrian-Iraqi border.

CEYLANPINAR, Turkey, Sep 21 (IPS) - People run back home at dusk, just when the shooting intensifies. To Sha Mehmed the experience is familiar. He was 11 when he left his native Afghan village to settle in this small Turkish town on the border with Syria.

ALI SARAY, Iraq, Sep 07 (IPS) - "The soul needs to reincarnate a thousand times before becoming one with god," says Rajab Assy Karim from Ali Saray, 190 kilometres north of Baghdad. Iraq is full of ‘shortcuts' to the ultimate, and several seem to pass through this tiny desert village.

ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan, Sep 03 (IPS) - "Life is almost normal in the centre of Damascus," local resident Hisham says from the predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Bab Touma. "Only the occasional noise of artillery on the outskirts reminds me that we are at war."

, Aug 29 (IPS) - Zuhair Hassib did not witness the last and the most ghastly massacre in Syria. Images of last year's Siege of Homs were enough for the artist to have seen. His paintings have brought those horrors home in a way pictures could never have.

SULEYMANIA, Iraqi Kurdistan, Aug 07 (IPS) - "The Islamists' announcement that god supported the killing of Kurds in Syria made us react," recalls Farouk Aziz Khadir. This 60-year-old Iraqi Kurd is ready to take up arms to defend his kin in the neighbouring war-torn country. And there are many more like him.

KIRKUK, Iraq, Jul 31 (IPS) - Two teams struggle to find an olive under one of the 11 cups displayed on a tray. The traditional game sin-u-serf  (tray and cup in Kurdish) is only played during the Muslim fasting month. In one of Iraq's most violent cities, it is nothing less than a challenge to death.