Umar Farooq

Umar Farooq is a journalist based in Istanbul who has reported on the Middle East and South and Central Asia for the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Affairs, the Nation, the Atlantic, the Guardian, and other outlets.

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@umarfarooq_ on X
SecureDrop

Turkish soldiers and Turkey-backed Syrian fighters gather on the northern outskirts of the Syrian city of Manbij near the Turkish border on October 14, 2019, as Turkey and its allies continue their assault on Kurdish-held border towns in northeastern Syria. - Turkey wants to create a roughly 30-kilometre (20-mile) buffer zone along its border to keep Kurdish forces at bay and also to send back some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it hosts. (Photo by Zein Al RIFAI / AFP) (Photo by ZEIN AL RIFAI/AFP via Getty Images)

Nobody Has a Plan for Thousands of ISIS Fighters Detained by Kurds in Syria

Umar Farooq

- Oct. 17, 2019

The abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Syria means nobody knows who will eventually control the 10,000 ISIS fighters there or where they will wind up.

Drone Wars

How Turkey Defied the U.S. and Became a Killer Drone Power

Umar Farooq

- May. 14, 2019

Turkey couldn’t get what it wanted from the U.S. so it built its own fleet of lethal drones. It uses them in Iraq, Syria — and domestically.

Umar Farooq

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Nobody Has a Plan for Thousands of ISIS Fighters Detained by Kurds in Syria

How Turkey Defied the U.S. and Became a Killer Drone Power