Fighters with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decadeslong insurgency in Turkey have begun laying down their weapons. About 30 fighters took part in a symbolic ceremony Friday in northern Iraq. The move was the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process. The Kurdistan Workers' Party announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict to end four decades of hostilities. The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm. Öcalan has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999.

A Kurdish militant group has announced plans to start disarming as part of a peace process with Turkey. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, says its fighters in northern Iraq will begin handing over their weapons next week in a ceremony in Iraq's Kurdish region. The number of fighters who will take part has not yet been determined but might be between 20 and 30. This marks the first concrete step toward disarmament after decades of conflict. The PKK announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict after the group's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, called for an end to the fighting.

Thousands of Syrians have celebrated in Umayyad Square, the largest in Damascus, after the first Muslim Friday prayers following the ouster of President Bashar Assad. The leader of the insurgency that toppled Assad, Ahmad al-Sharaa, appeared in a video message in which he congratulated "the great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution." Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the Turkish capital of Ankara that there was "broad agreement" between Turkey and the United States on what they would like to see in Syria. The top U.S. diplomat also called for an "inclusive and non-sectarian" interim government.

Turkey has struck suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq for a second day after a deadly attack on the premises of a key defense company. Drones belonging to the National Intelligence Organization on Thursday targeted numerous "strategic locations" used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party — the PKK — or its affiliates. The targets included military, intelligence, energy, infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots. On Wednesday, Turkey's air force carried out airstrikes against similar targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq. Turkish officials have blamed the attack at the headquarters of the aerospace and defense company TUSAS on the PKK. The group hasn't commented. The attack on the defense company killed at least five people.