By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 8 September 2026
For purposes of accessibility, below is reproduced an article published two days after the infamous Cinema Rex fire during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the most lethal post-war terrorist attack before 9/11. Inter alia, the article records contemporary evidence suggesting that the Palestinian terrorist leader Sabri al-Banna (Abu Nidal), a guest in Saddam Husayn’s Iraq, had a role in the atrocity.
Continue readingBy Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on June 13, 2015
Logo of the Internationalist Freedom Battalion or Enternasyonalist Ozgurluk Taburu (EOT)
The Kurdish People’s Protection Forces (YPG), the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been in receipt of a flow of non-Kurdish, mostly-Western foreign fighters for approximately a year. These volunteers had gathered in informal groupings such as the “Lions of Rojava,” a primarily English-speaking unit of non-ideological ex-military men. The recruitment pattern of the YPG has begun to shift, however, and the stream of foreign fighters to “Rojava,” as the YPG calls the areas it rules, has become increasingly ideological. In January, a process was begun to create a unified structure—or at least a brand—for the disparate foreign groups and individuals in Rojava. This effort concluded two days ago with the formation of the International Freedom Battalion (EOT).
Continue reading
Kyle Orton's Blog 