BEIRUT,— The border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Syrian Kurdistan was closed on Wednesday, a Syrian Kurdish official told Reuters.

The border between al-Malikiya in Syria’s Hassaka province and Fishkhabur in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region closed in the afternoon, said Abdullah Sa’adoun, communications officer for the Syrian Kurdish internal security forces, known as the Asayish.

Sa’adoun did not give a reason for the closure, but said it was closed by the Iraqi side.

The closure comes on the same day that Syrian Kurds had been expected to announce the combining of three Kurdish-led areas of northern Syria into a federal arrangement.

According to ANF the Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP has closed Sêmelka and Welid border gates for all of commercial and ordinary crossing.

An Iraqi Kurdish official who asked not to be identified told Reuters that he was not aware of a political decision to close the border and that it had happened a number of times before for technical or security reasons.

The crossing is located in a sensitive area at the intersection of the Syrian, Iraqi and Turkish borders.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organisation that monitors the Syrian conflict, also said the border was shut from the Iraqi side.

Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said that the border is often closed, and the reason for this closure is not known.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters | Ekurd.net

Comments

Comments