The KRG soon followed with a statement attributed to the crossing's director that said: “Ibrahim Khalil border crossing is not closed. Our citizens and businessmen should understand this. This crossing will always be open for travels and business. All those reports in the media that the crossing is closed or is now under Iraqi control are totally baseless. This is all part of psychological warfare against us.”
The KRG statement did not, however, deny that Iraqi soldiers had arrived at the crossing. It said, rather, that the soldiers were making a simple visit.
It didn’t take the Iraqi media long to join in the triumphant but false reporting, colorfully trumpeting that the border crossing was now in the hands of the government.
A customs official who did not want to be identified told Al-Monitor that customs work was still being carried out by civil servants attached to the KRG. “In the morning, Iraqi soldiers and commanders came, met with our officials and then left. At the moment, there is not a single government civil servant or military official there,” the official said.
Another customs official also told Al-Monitor nothing had changed in the customs zone. Following the crescendo of reports about the situation at Habur crossing, Samal Abdurrahman, the director general of the KRG Customs Administration, issued a statement saying no Iraqi force had entered the customs zone. Some truck drivers Al-Monitor reached by phone said they hadn’t seen any changes on the Iraqi side.
The only "reality" was the sight of Iraqi soldiers in the area, but according to the border crossing's assistant director, Muhammad Tahir, those were only the soldiers who had been on exercises in Turkey and were returning to Iraq accompanying Iraqi Chief of Staff Gen. Othman al-Ghanmi. However, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was among those who declared that the customs zone has been taken over by the Iraqi government.
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