Security

Border guards severely injured in PKK attack on Faysh Khabur: KRG official

"The PKK's intention behind this act is to create chaos, destabilize the situation of the Kurdistan Region, and hurt the interest of the Kurdish people in Rojava."

Dler S. Mohammed 2021/12/16 11:19

PKK members and supporters waving flags with portrait of their leader Abdullah Ocalan. (Photo: AFP)

Kurdistan PKK Krg Faysh Khabur border crossing Shawkat Barbuhari

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked the Faysh Khabur border crossing office with Syria and severely injured a number of Kurdistan Region border guards on Wednesday.

"More than 100 PKK members attacked our border office at Faysh Khabur border crossing point with Syria," border office director Shawkat Barbuhari announced

The attackers threw Molotov cocktails and stones at the guards there.

"The PKK members severely injured a number of our border guards," Barbuhari said.

He explained that the PKK had set up two tents near the border office three months ago and forcibly gathered people from northeast Syria (Rojava) to sit in them.

"Under pressure from the PKK, these people have been carrying flags and logos of the PKK and repeating slogans against the Kurdistan Region for months," Barbuhari said. "They gave us a very hard time for three months. However, for the sake of the public interest and for the sake of our beloved people in Rojava, we chose to be patient and not respond."

"The PKK's intention behind this act is to create chaos, destabilize the situation of the Kurdistan Region, and hurt the interest of the Kurdish people in Rojava," he added.

Barbuhari warned that Faysh Khabur is the only border crossing between Kurdistan Region and Rojava. It is the only way the people of Rojava can get food from the Kurdistan Region.

"Stopping the traffic through Faysh Khabur border crossing will hurt the people of Rojava, and we will hold PKK responsible for this," Barbuhari said.

The Faysh Khabur border has been crucial for cross-border aid to northeastern Syria and for importing food and construction material.

On Jan. 16, 2013, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) inaugurated the Kurdistan Region- northeast Syria (Rojava) border crossing of Faysh Khabur by building a pontoon bridge across the Tigris about one kilometer downstream from the Iraqi-Syrian-Turkish border triangle.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacking the Kurdistan Region's Faysh Khabur border crossing office with northeast Syria, Dec. 15, 2021. (Photo: ANHA TV screengrab)