By AFPMore by this AuthorPARIS,The Kurds, a non-Arab ethnic group, number between 25 and 35 million people who are spread across four countries but without a state of their own. In Syria the Kurds have for decades been marginalised and oppressed by the regime. PHOTO | BULENT KILIC |AFPIn Iraq, Kurds persecuted under dictator Saddam Hussein rose up in 1991 after Iraq's defeat in Kuwait during the Gulf War. PHOTO | SAFIN HAMED | AFPIn Iraq, Kurdish peshmerga fighters also helped push back IS. The Kurds have never lived under a single, centralised power and are split among a myriad of parties and factions.

Source: Daily Nation December 22, 2018 05:58 UTC