Baghdad daily, Azzam, reported a statement from Baghdad: “The Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces announced earlier that the forces within Kurdistan are acting against the constitution, accusing them of nearly provoking a conflict with the armed forces,” Azzam wrote.
“[Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-]Maliki said in a statement yesterday that there were clear suspicions that the province's guards had turned the region, near the Iraqi-Syrian border, into a haven for militants to cross to and from Syria, stressing that this was why they refused the army entry to that area, given that they could cut off supplies to insurgents.”
Azzam also reported that al-Maliki had called the moves by the Kurdish forces unconstitutional – the Iraqi military was supposed to protect the nation’s borders – and that it was yet another sign that the Iraqi Kurdish were trying to form their own state.
But without further information, it is hard to say whether the Iraqi Kurdish are helping Syrian rebels move back and forth and thereby tacitly supporting the attempts to overthrow the al-Assad regime. Or whether this is just the latest flashpoint in a long and ongoing saga about the disputed territories in this area. There have been similar situations in the past, and these did not involve Syria.
At the press conference in Ninawa, Governor al-Nujaifi said he feared an escalation of the Kurdish-Iraq conflict, currently escalating in the political arena, where the two sets of leaders have been harshly critical of one another over issues such as oil industry contracts, federalization, power sharing and the Syrian issue.
One thing is certain though: the Iraqi-Syrian border remains as porous as ever, with reports that smugglers from over the border continue to bring contraband, including weapons back and forth, at will.
Rabia is well known for smuggling and one of Iraqi smugglers, who gave his name only as Rahmeh, says that Syrian contraband is moving more freely than ever.
“The Syrian smugglers are doing the same thing we did when the Saddam Hussein regime, and the entire Iraqi state, collapsed in 2003,” Rahmeh says, perhaps giving an indication of exactly how things stand over the border. “They come with their own cars, they cross the dirt barrier and they bring in smuggled goods because there is no one to stop them,” he notes.
The trade goes both ways too: “Ten days ago, the Syrians started to demand more weapons,” Rahmeh says. “We’ve heard that most of these munitions are bound for [the Syrian city of] Aleppo.”
(Picture: Mosul, Ninawa)
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