Iraqi Kurdistan, Syrian Kurds close border, official says

PanARMENIAN.Net - The border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria was closed on Wednesday, March 16, Reuters cited a Syrian Kurdish official as saying.

The border between al-Malikiya in Syria's Hassakeh 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.

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, Reuters says.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organization 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.