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SANJAQ SAADUN, Syria — In a schoolyard of rural northeastern Syria, boys and girls break out into giggles watching Charlie Chaplin’s pranks, a rare treat thanks to a mobile cinema roving through the countryside.

In Kurdish-held areas of the northeast, filmmaker Shero Hinde is screening films in remote villages using just a laptop, projector and a canvas screen.

“We’ve already shown films in towns but we wanted children in the villages to enjoy them too,” said the bespectacled 39-year-old with thick greying curly hair.

With some films dubbed into Kurdish and others subtitled, he and a team of volunteers want to spread their love of cinema across Rojava, the Kurdish name of the semi-autonomous northeast of war-torn Syria.

“Our goal is that in a year’s time, there won’t be a kid in Rojava who hasn’t been to the cinema,” the Kurdish filmmaker said.

Sitting on coloured plastic chairs in the village of Sanjaq Saadun just before dusk, the boys and girls watch wide-eyed as the first black-and-white images of “The Kid” appear on screen.

Lively piano music rings out across the school basketball court, as Chaplin plays a tramp who rescues an orphaned baby in the 1921 silent movie.

Laughter rises above the darkened playground as he tries to clean the baby’s nose or to feed him from a kettle strung from the ceiling.

‘Something beautiful’ 

Across the Kurdish-held region, old cinemas once showed American B movies and Bollywood fare, but they have lost their audiences and closed.

In local minds, cinema is also tied to tragedy, after a fire ripped through a theatre in the nearby town of Amuda in 1960, killing more than 280 children.

The mobile cinema, says Hinde, aims to introduce young children to the magic of the silver screen from the early days of moving pictures — something he missed out on as a schoolboy.

“When we were kids, the cinema was that dark place,” said the filmmaker, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a green t-shirt.

In primary school, he and others were taken to see films inappropriate for their age and in substandard conditions, he recalled.

It was only later that he discovered “the truth and beauty of cinema”.

To give today’s children a different experience, “we’re now trying to substitute that darkness for something beautiful and colourful”, he said.

Excited children 

The mobile cinema’s objective is also to screen “films linked to protecting the environment and personal freedoms”, Hinde said.

On another evening in the village of Shaghir Bazar, children rushed in before the film started to grab front-row seats.

On show that day was “Spirit”, an American animated adventure film about a wild stallion captured by humans who dreams of breaking free and returning to his herd.

Among the audience, Amal Ibrahim said her son Kaddar, seven, and daughter Ayleen, six, were brimming with excitement.

“They could hardly wait to come. They’ve never been to the cinema before,” she said in Kurdish.

Even some of the village’s older men had turned up to see the cartoon adventure, after not having been to the cinema in decades.

Standing to one side, they reminisced about the films of their youth.

Adnan Jawli, 56, came along with his two children.

“Today, I brought my kids to the cinema and all my memories are flooding back,” he said.

“Forty years ago, I would go to the cinema and watch the film from outside through the window,” said Jawli.

“It was such a great feeling when the lights dimmed and the film started.”

Hinde’s own credits include “Stories of Destroyed Cities”, a feature-length film about three towns in Syria and Iraq on the road to recovery after Kurdish forces expelled the Daesh group.

Apart from spearheading the defeat of the militants, Syria’s Kurds have largely stayed out of the country’s eight-year war, instead working towards autonomy after decades of marginalisation.

Though Kurdish-led fighters are still battling sleeper cells, Hinde and his team are already looking to the future. 

Beyond their roving cinema, they dream of opening a movie theatre at a fixed location.

“But that will depend on the war ending and stability returning to the country,” he said.

WASHINGTON — A tearful US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said on Monday that her Palestinian grandmother told her last week not to visit Israel under conditions demanded by the Israeli government.

Tlaib said she had considered accepting Israeli demands to not engage in politics so that she could travel to the West Bank and visit her grandmother, who is around 90 years old.

"She said I'm her dream manifested, I'm her free bird, so why would I come back and be caged and bow down, when my election rose her head up high, gave her dignity for the first time?" Tlaib told reporters.

"And so through tears, at 3:00 in the morning, we all decided as a family that I could not go until I was a free United States congresswoman."

Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first two Muslim women ever elected to the US Congress, had planned a trip last week to Israel and Palestinian territories, where they expected to meet with activists and officials on both sides.

But on Thursday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government bowed to urging from President Donald Trump and barred them, accusing them of supporting a boycott against Israel.

Shortly after that, the Israelis partially reversed course and offered Tlaib alone permission to visit her grandmother if she accepted restrictions and promised not to promote the boycott.

'Exposing the truth' 

Speaking together in Omar's hometown of St Paul, Minnesota in their first public appearance since the trip's cancellation, Tlaib and Omar accused Israel of bowing to Trump and trying to hide the reality of the Palestinian situation.

Tlaib pointed out that it is common for US lawmakers to visit Israel and meet a wide range of activists.

"What is not common occurrence is members of Congress being barred from entering a country on these fact-finding missions unless they agree to strict set of rules," she said.

"It is unfortunate that Prime Minister Netanyahu is apparently taking a page out of Trump's book, and even direction from Trump, to deny this opportunity," she said.

Omar called the decision to ban the two of them "nothing less than an attempt by an ally of the United States to suppress our ability to do our jobs as elected officials".

Referring to the $3 billion in aid the US gives to Israel each year, Omar said, "this is predicated on their being an important ally in the region and the only democracy in the Middle East".

"But denying visit to duly elected members of Congress is not consistent with being an ally."

MAARET AL NOMAN, Syria — A Turkish military convoy crossed into extremist-run northwest Syria on Monday, its path blocked by advancing regime troops as tensions soared between Damascus and Ankara.

Rebel-backer Turkey said its forces were targeted by an air strike, while the Syrian regime accused Turkish forces of backing "terrorists".

The convoy had entered Idlib province before heading towards a key town where Russian-backed regime forces are waging a fierce battle to retake the area from extremists.

Turkey claimed an air strike hit its convoy, killing three civilians, though a war monitor said a Russian air raid took the lives of three in the surrounding area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron Monday that Moscow supports the Syrian army's offensive in the northern province of Idlib.

"We support the efforts of the Syrian army... to end these terrorist threats" in Idlib, Putin said after Macron urged respect for a ceasefire in Idlib.

After eight years of civil war, the extremist-run region on the border with Turkey is the last major stronghold of opposition to President Bashar Assad's regime.

The region of some three million people was supposed to be protected by a Turkish-Russian buffer zone deal signed last year.

After days of inching forward, Russian-backed regime ground forces on Sunday entered the key town of Khan Sheikhoun in the south of the stronghold.

On Monday afternoon, a new loyalist advance saw pro-Damascus fighters take control part of the highway north of Khan Sheikhoun, effectively blocking the Turkish military convoy from continuing south.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor with a network of contacts in Syria, said this would stop the convoy ever reaching a Turkish monitoring post south of Khan Sheikhoun.

Earlier in the afternoon, an AFP correspondent saw the convoy stop on the Aleppo-Damascus highway in the village of Maar Hattat, just north of Khan Sheikhoun.

Analysts say regime forces want to retake the key road that connects Damascus with the northern city of Aleppo, both of which they control.

Earlier, an AFP correspondent saw a military convoy of around 50 armoured vehicles including personnel carriers and at least five tanks travelling southwards along the highway.

The observatory reported Syrian and Russian air strikes aimed at hindering the convoy’s advance.

Turkey’s defence ministry “strongly” condemned the attack, saying regime operations were “in violation of the existing memorandums and agreements with the Russian Federation”.

The Damascus regime meanwhile denounced the convoy’s crossing from Turkey.

“Turkish vehicles loaded with munitions... are heading towards Khan Sheikhoun to help the terrorists,” a foreign ministry source said.

This confirmed “the support provided by the Turkish regime to terrorist groups”, state news agency SANA reported the source as saying.

‘Protect Khan Sheikhoun?’ 

On Sunday, pro-regime forces backed by Russian air strikes took control of Khan Sheikhoun’s north-western outskirts.

Fighting continues to the east and west of the town, the observatory says.

The seizure of Khan Sheikhoun and territory further east would encircle a patch of countryside to its south, including the town of Morek where the Turkish observation post is situated. 

The Turkish army earlier said the convoy was heading towards Morek.

Analyst Nawar Oliver said the latest developments in Khan Sheikhoun were likely linked to a “disagreement” between both signatories.

He said Turkey had likely sent the convoy to avoid its troops being “threatened” or placed “at the mercy of the regime and Russia”.

It may have also taken a “decision to protect Khan Sheikhoun”, he said.

More than 400,000 people have fled their homes in the Idlib region since April, the United Nations says.

Extremist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, led by Syria’s former Al Qaeda affiliate, controls most of Idlib province as well as parts of the neighbouring provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia.

Syria’s war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011.

TEHRAN — Tehran said it had warned its arch-foe Washington against attempting to seize an Iranian tanker, which sailed into international waters Monday after being released from Gibraltar.

Iran had been locked in a six-week standoff with US ally Britain since Royal Marines seized the tanker off British territory Gibraltar, on suspicion it was shipping oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.

Little more than two weeks later, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps impounded the British-flagged Stena Impero tanker in strategic Gulf waters in what London called a tit-for-tat move.

A Gibraltar court on Thursday ordered the release of the Grace 1, since renamed the Adrian Darya.

That was in spite of a last-minute US bid to detain the supertanker on allegations of involvement in supporting illicit shipments to Syria by the guard, listed as a terrorist group by Washington.

Gibraltar’s government rejected the request, saying it could not seek a court order to detain the ship because US sanctions against Iran were not applicable in the European Union.

The Adrian Darya had left Gibraltar and entered international waters on Monday, the deputy head of Iran’s port and marine authority Jalil Eslami said, cited by state news agency IRNA.

Flying the Iranian flag, it was on course for the Greek port of Kalamata, according to shipping data.

But the final destination of the vessel and its 2.1 million barrels of oil remains unclear, with authorities in Greece yet to confirm it is expected to dock there.

‘Bullying and unilateralism’ 

As the ship finally sailed eastward, Iran said it had warned the United States through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents US interests, against trying to seize it again.

“Iran has given necessary warnings to American officials through its official channels... not to make such a mistake because it would have grave consequences,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi.

Speaking at a news conference, he dismissed the notion of any link between the seizure of the Iranian tanker off Gibraltar and the British-flagged tanker in the Gulf.

“There is no connection whatsoever between these two vessels,” said Mousavi.

“There have been two or three maritime violations made by that ship,” he said, referring to the Stena Impero held off Iran’s Bandar Abbas.

“The court is looking into it. We hope the [investigation] is completed as soon as possible and the verdict is issued.”

The spokesman said the tanker’s release was a blow to US “unilateralism”.

“The Americans have not been very successful with their unilateral sanctions that have no legal basis.

“They should come to their senses that bullying and unilateralism cannot get anywhere in the world today.”

Mousavi urged other countries not to accept sanctions the US has imposed on Iran “because they’re not legitimate and have no legal basis”.

Iran to seek damages? 

Iran’s judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi called for legal action to be taken against Britain over the vessel’s detention.

“Now following the release of the ship, the Islamic Republic of Iran should seek damages,” he told state television.

But despite the tanker’s release, Iran still faced a dilemma over its ultimate destination and that of its oil, said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

“The tanker was renamed... but the problem with US sanctions remains,” he told AFP. “I don’t see any buyer in the Mediterranean apart from the sanctioned regime in Syria.”

“Returning to Iran will be difficult since it would need to make the whole trip around Africa.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was unable to give anything away when asked during a trip to Finland if the oil would be offloaded in Greece.

“Now because of US sanctions we cannot be very transparent with the destination of our oil,” he told a news conference in Helsinki.

In its decision ordering the tanker’s release, Gibraltar said it had received written assurances from Iran that the ship would not be headed for countries “subject to European Union sanctions”.

Iran denied it had made any promises about the ship’s destination to secure the release.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have been rising since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark nuclear deal in May 2018 and began imposing sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Iran has responded to Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign by suspending some of its commitments under the nuclear deal.

The situation has threatened to spiral out of control with ships attacked, drones downed and oil tankers seized.

At the height of the crisis, Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after its forces shot down a US drone.

SIMALKA CROSSING, Syria — The Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Monday handed over four children linked with the Daesh group to Germany, their first such repatriation to the European country, an official said.

“The autonomous region handed over four children from Daesh families to a delegation from Germany,” said Fanar Kaeet, a foreign affairs official with the Kurdish authorities.

They included a boy and two sisters who had lost both parents, and a fatherless girl infant who was repatriated for health reasons, Kurdish authorities said.

All are under 10 years old, they said.

A spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry confirmed the handover to staff from its consulate in neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan at the Simalka border crossing.

“I can confirm that four children who were in custody in northern Syria were able to leave Syria,” she said.

“The children were received on the Iraqi-Syrian border by staff of the consulate in Erbil and will be given to family members,” the spokeswoman said.

“From there, the children and their family members will, we believe, travel to Germany.” 

Syria’s Kurds have spearheaded the US-backed fight against Daesh in Syria, and in March expelled the extremists from their last patch of territory in the war-torn country’s Far East.

Even as they fight remaining sleeper cells, thousands of alleged Daesh fighters and family members are being held in their custody.

These include hundreds of suspected foreign fighters in their jails, and thousands of their alleged family members in overcrowded camps.

Western countries have been largely reluctant to repatriate their nationals.

But France and Belgium have brought a handful of orphans home, while the United States last year repatriated a woman with her four children.

Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kosovo have repatriated dozens of women and children.

Daesh overran large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a “caliphate” there, but offensives in both countries have seen them lose that territory.

A dozen children of alleged fighters have been repatriated from Iraq to Germany since March.