Throughout the volatile seven-year Syrian war, conflicting parties routinely produce maps with differing claims of territorial control. Afrin, abutting Hatay to the west and rebel-held Idlib to ...

These maps help explain the offensive and what is happening on the ground. Between 25 and 35 million ethnic Kurds inhabit a mountainous region straddling Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Armenia.

Omar Jamil (a pseudonym), 35, returned home with his wife, parents and five children on December 4 to his village in the ...