We Went Into the Mountains Where Turkey Bombs the PKK
It was 4.00 a.m. and Nabi Hassan was asleep when the first bomb exploded. The jet engines screaming overhead left no doubt as to what had happened — the Turkish air force was targeting his village. Hassan immediately put his clothes on and ran outside. The house of Ayshe... Read more
Smugglers Risk Death in the Shadow of Iran
This is part two of a two-part series. Read part one. The morning light streams through the tent, a Kurdish flag flapping in a strong wind. The temperature dropped last night, and those on guard put on warm jackets. The long dry summer is coming to an end. The morning routine begins... Read more
Into the Mountains With Kurdish Rebels Fighting Iran
This is part one of a two-part series. Read part two. Kurdish music blasts through low-quality speakers inside our bus. Some of the passengers clap to the rhythm while the older ones point to landmarks across the arid landscape, informing the younger and more inexperienced travelers the names of... Read more
Video — Kurdish Troops Go on the Attack Near Zaghar
The war along the Kurdish front line has, for the most part, settled into a stalemate. It’s been this way for months. Kurdish peshmerga face off with Islamic State and exchange sniper shots, machine gun fire and mortar rounds. But it’s not like that everywhere. On Sept. 11, Kurdish... Read more
We Watched Kurdish Fighters Clash With Islamic State
The dull roar of circling coalition aircraft fills the night sky over the town of Bashiqa. Below, perched on a dusty mountain that takes its name from the same town, Kurdish peshmerga fighters alternate between scanning enemy territory in front of them and peering up to catch a glimpse... Read more
We Witnessed Kurdish Troops Take the Offensive
As the sun rose in the early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 11, hundreds of Kurdish fighting vehicles started their engines. Humvees, tanks and even cherry pickers formed a long line and began moving out. Their destination — Islamic State-held territory. Islamic State, the Sunni extremist group that controls... Read more
Kurdish Fighters Storm Buildings, Train for Urban War
Originally published on May 18, 2015. Peshmerga fighters of the 4th Battalion laid down covering fire as their comrades crossed a street in a half-built housing complex outside the city of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional capital. Smoke from fires lit by coalition instructors added to the reality of the... Read more
We Watched Kurdish Troops Train With Guided Missiles
The students sweated in the July heat of a classroom on their last day of training. They watched as two young Peshmerga second lieutenants disassembled a large tripod for a MILAN anti-tank guided missile launcher. We had a chance to observe this missile training course during a visit to... Read more
Kurdish Bomb Technicians Play a Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse
Fine sand whips around a few spread-out temporary cabins that comprise a Kurdish Peshmerga base near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Attached to the side of one cabin, an irritating water-cooled air conditioner squeaks away as the midday July sun beats down, removing all but the smallest shadows. The... Read more
Kurdish Troops Grumble—Our Junk Weapons Are Killing Us
“When I shoot, the top of the rifle flies off,” Mahd Abdul Basit, a 28-year-old Peshmerga fighter told me while we stood a few hundred meters from Islamic State’s front line. Unlike many Kurdish troops, who must purchase their own weapons, Mahd’s rifle — a taped-up Kalashnikov appearing to... Read more

Matt Cetti-Roberts

Photojournalist, documentary photographer and correspondent in Iraqi-Kurdistan