More than 50 boys aged 11-17, some with parents hailing from Britain, France, Germany or the United States, live at the heavily guarded Orkesh rehabilitation center near the city of Qamishli, close to the Turkish border.

Opened six months ago, it is the first facility seeking to rehabilitate foreign boys in the Kurdish administered northeast, where prisons and camps are packed with thousands of IS group relatives from more than 60 countries.

Another center opened its doors in 2017 to rehabilitate young former ISIS militants.

The success of the centers are crucial to "saving the region from the emergence of a new generation of extremists," said Khaled Remo, co-chair of the Kurdish administration's office of justice and reform affairs.

Some of the boys wearing tracksuits played table football in one of the rooms, while others kicked around a ball outside in the sun, talking to one another in broken Arabic.

Once the boys turn 18, they will need a new rehabilitation programm or for their home countries to take them back.

"We don't want the kids to stay permanently in these centers, but diplomatic efforts are slow, and many children need rehabilitation," Remo said.

Kurdish-led forces, supported by a US-led coalition, spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria, driving the group from its last redoubt in the country in 2019.

Tens of thousands of people, including relatives of suspected militants, have been detained ever since in the Kurdish-controlled Al-Hol and Roj camps, including around 10,000 foreigners in Al-Hol alone.

While girls are also in the camps, this rehabilitation center focuses on boys because they would be who IS remnants -- now in hideouts in the desert -- would recruit to fight if they could, Remo said.

Aram Hadi was kidnapped on the night of August 28, 2022 in Kirkuk’s Jabal Bor plains by a number of ISIS fighters riding motorcycles, to an unknown location.

At the time of his abduction, Aram was accompanied by another man, Ali Kaka Alao Reza, a 39-year-old Peshmerga, Ali was killed by ISIS fighters.

According to information obtained by KurdsatNews, in the meetings with Iraqi officials in Baghdad, the KRG has put forward several proposals, but the proposals do not meet the wishes of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, so they decided to establish a joint committee to investigate this issue.

The Iraqi government is ready to bear all the expenses of the KRG including the allocations needed to pay salaries, but the process of selling and exporting KRG’s oil must be in the hands of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.

“A joint committee was created between Erbil and Baghdad on Sunday to design oil and gas draft. The Kurdistan Region Government delegation today discussed the issue with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil,” the KRG said in a statement on Sunday.

A KRG delegation visited Baghdad on Sunday February 19 amid ongoing issues between the two sides regarding oil and financial entitlements of the Kurdistan region.

The amount of oil production in the Kurdistan region from July to December 2022 reached 78 million 904 thousand barrels, earning $5,570,613 US dollar from oil sales.

The KRG spent $2.776 billion for processing expenditures of the oil companies and $2.794 billion to salaries.

The powerful 7.8 magnitude temblor that struck before dawn on Monday wreaked new damage and suffering in northern Syria after years of fighting and bombardment.

Many residents affected by the earthquake survived years of intense bombing and shelling that may have weakened the foundations of their homes, leaving them more vulnerable.

In Afrin, dozens of families crammed together in tents which were pitched at a makeshift camp inside a local school. Hospitals and clinics were flooded with injured people.

Jamila Haseeb Abdulrahim, 60, was displaced from the city Aleppo during the years of the Syrian war. Now, she’s displaced for a second time after the quake damaged her home and left members of her family dead.

Another displaced Syrian, Issam Qanbar, now lives with his wife and two children in a tent at the school’s makeshift camp after the family’s home collapsed.

“We sat in open air under olive trees on the first night and later they opened schools for us", Qanbar said.

Buses bring tourists from Baghdad and other cities in the south of Iraq to the snow-blanketed Gara mountain in Dohuk.

People were dancing and playing with snow that covered large swaths of the area.

The trip from Baghdad to Dohuk by bus usually takes about five hours.

Gara mountain stands at 2,151 meters above sea level.

It is a favourite destination for local tourists, especially for people from Baghdad and southern Iraq where the weather is drier and warmer.

The snowy weather is also a great economic boost for the Kurdistan region, as it attracts Arab tourists who inject some much-needed cash into the local economy.

The convoy was composed of 25 ambulances, several trucks carrying first aid, logistics and specialized rescue teams.

It included JCC (Joint Crisis Coordination) teams specializing in searching for and finding people buried under collapsed buildings, according to Rebar Ahmad, the Interior Minister of the KRG.

The KRG was also ready to send aid convoys to Syria, if they were granted access to affected areas, Ahmad said.

The quake killed more than 3,381 people and injured thousands more as thousands of buildings toppled, trapping residents under mounds of rubble.

Authorities feared the death toll would keep climbing as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis.

Throughout the day, major aftershocks rattled the region, including one jolt that was nearly as strong as the initial quake.

The US Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake, that was centered on Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, at 7.8, with a depth of 18 kilometers.

Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude temblor struck more than 100 km (60m) away.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said offers for help had been received from some 45 countries in the aftermath of Monday’s deadly earthquake and powerful, still ongoing aftershocks.

In a televised address, Erdogan announced that Turkey’s death toll had reached 912, adding that about 5,400 people were injured, while around 2,470 people were rescued from collapsed structures.

Some 3,000 buildings collapsed in the earthquake, he said. His announcement brought the death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria to more than 1,300 people.

“Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise,” Erdogan said.

“Our hope is that we recover from this disaster with the least loss of life possible, he added. “I pray that God protects us and all humanity from such natural disasters.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said members of the alliance were mobilizing support to help Turkey deal with the aftermath of Monday’s devastating earthquake.

A Turkish defense ministry official said there was no damage or injury at the base but did not provide further details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

According to a statement from the Kurdistan region’s anti-terrorism department, at least eight rockets were fired at Turkey’s Zilkan military base, with two hitting the base itself.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar dismissed the incident, saying the base comes under attack “from time to time,” prompting retaliatory fire. He said the Turkish soldiers were “fighting there with increased resolve and determination.”

Turkey has long been conducting military operations in Kurdistan region, with both ground and air forces, targeting suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)

Raad Abdul Jabbar sits in his small Sulaimani shop surrounded by stamps from all sides.

The stamp collector and business owner hails from Baghdad, but had moved to the Kurdistan region because it was relatively safer during Iraq's sectarian conflict in Iraq in 2007.

The 54-year-old started collecting stamps as a hobby when he was teenager, turning the activity into a business some 20 years ago.

"My hobby became a source of income for me. I was a hobbyist since I was 15 years old," he says.

At his shop, he tucks away the more expensive stamps in folders to protect them from damage.

Abdul Jabbar says he has even more folders full of stamps at his home.

Most of the stamps that he owns go back to the time when Iraq was a kingdom and his collection includes a postal stamp that was issued for the inauguration of King Faisal I, the first king of Iraq.

That stamp is worth around $200 and other stamps start selling for $10 and can reach up to $400.

In Iraq, the Faisal lineage ended in 1958 when the monarchy was overthrown in an army coup.

But the stamp issued for King Faisal I is the most demanded at Abdul Jabbar's shop.

The business owner also collects and sells banknotes and coins from different countries.

The most valuable banknote is an Egyptian pound from King Farouq’s era and some Chinese currencies dating back to the 1930s-1940s.

The Delal Bridge, also known as the Stone Bridge or the Grand Bridge, is a landmark in the area and often a meeting point during social gatherings.

"If we need to meet with someone, we we would probably come and meet here most of the time," says Kovan Hussein, a resident of Zakho.

The historic bridge has five different sized arches and a wide curvy road paved with stones.

"It was probably built at the time when two empires were present in the area, they Byzantines and Sassanides," says Mohammed Ahmad, the director of the archaeology department in Zakho.

It was a border line between the two rival empires at the time and was used as a military road for their armies, Ahmad says.

Archaeologists say the bridge also served as a connection between Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

Many centuries later, the ancient structure still connects people in the area as Zakho residents meet with friends at the site and go for strolls along the bridge.

Nearly 60cm (two feet) of snow had fallen in the pervious 24 hours in parts of the district.

Snow is not unusual in the winter in Iraq's mountainous north.

It often shuts down traffic in the winter months for days on end, halting trade and traffic with Iran and Turkey.

Syrian Democratic Forces said they raided “dozens of potential points and hideouts” in the city Raqqa — formerly held by the Islamic State group — and the surrounding area, and arrested dozens of suspected ISIS members.

The U.S.-led coalition forces provided air cover and drone surveillance during the operation, the statement added.

The operation was in response to an ISIS attack on Raqqa in late December that killed six members of the Kurdish-led forces.

The SDF also announced formation of a “joint operations room” backed by the international coalition aimed at targeting ISIS cells.

The Kurdish-led forces in Syria regularly carry out joint anti-ISIS patrols with the U.S.-led coalition.

The patrols were temporarily halted late last year when Turkey launched a campaign of airstrikes against Kurdish groups in Syria in retaliation for a deadly November explosion in Istanbul. Ankara blamed Kurdish groups for the attack, an allegation the groups deny.

The monastery, considered being one of the oldest monasteries in this region of Iraq, is currently closed due to Turkish bombing in the area.

Turkish warplanes often conducted airstrikes near the monastery, targeting suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

For safety and security reasons, villagers have decided that visitors will not be allowed at the monastery.

"We don’t allow people to come because it is a risk," said Shelimoun Asnia, a Christian man from the area.

The monastery, which sits on a mountain's edge in the Christian village of Dore, is close to the Turkish border.

The area gets exposed to frequent Turkish airstrikes, and Turkish warplanes are flying overhead and observing it around the clock.

Several Christian pilgrims have been exposed to artillery shelling in the past years while trying to visit the monastery and the mountain.

Many of the Christian communities of northern Iraq are some of the oldest of the faith.

The Mar Qayyum monastery is believed to date back to the forth century but the building itself has been destroyed and rebuilt several times.

The last time the two-floor monastery was renovated was in 1999.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Enlightenment and Youth suspended the broadcasting of 29 channels as they have failed to renew their licenses, according to a statement from the culture ministry.

The General Directorate of Information and Publishing of the KRG Ministry of Culture issued an administrative decree that bans the broadcasting of 29 local TV channels.

The decree dated today, January 16, 2023, issued under No. 112, states that pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 1, Point 5 of Directive No. 1 of 2014 of the Ministry of Culture and Youth on "Guidelines for Regulation of Space Frequency in the Kurdistan Region."

The Publishing and Information department says in the decree, “because the channels listed below have not renewed their licenses, we have decided to suspend normal broadcasting until they renew their licenses.”

There are many TV stations in the Kurdistan region that are largely unregulated and are owned by different political parties or large businesses. Many of them are local stations that generally air entertainment content such as foreign and locally produced, series, movies and music.

The decree includes the names of the following broadcasters;

1- Niga
2. Niga Minalan
3- Niga Film
4- Biaban
5- Biaban Film
6- Biaban Sports
7- Biaban Muzik
8- Never
9- Aso Sport
10. I Movies
11- Jihan
12- Minara
13- Khezan
14. Democracy
15- Best
16- Asman
17- Effect
18- Judy
19- Laww
20- Max
21- Srusht
22- Kurdin
23- Yakgrtu
24- Binin
25- Baby Panda
26- Kaziwa
27- Azadi
28- Azadi Sports
29- Zhyar.

Kurdistan Region President Advisor Dilshad Shahab told Kurdsat English that National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Bret Mcgurk would visit the Kurdistan region and meet with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President to discuss several issues related to the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the region.

The visiting schedule includes talks with the leadership of the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK). Kurdish leaders and the White House coordinate were closely coordinated during the war on terrorism from 2014 to 2019.

Mcgurk is a diplomat with significant experience in Iraq, especially in the Kurdistan region, as he frequently met with Kurdish leaders in the past decade. He was the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and retained his role under the Trump administration, but left office when Trump decided to withdraw US troops from Syria.