Terrorist group PKK/YPG blocking return of Syrians from Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government area

HASAKAH, Syria

The terrorist group PKK/YPG is preventing non-Kurdish Syrians from returning to the country through a border crossing in northeastern Syria after leaving the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) area in northern Iraq, local sources told Anadolu.

The sources said Syrians whose KRG residency permits had expired who tried to return to Hasakah through the Semalka border crossing were turned away by the group if they were not of Kurdish origin.

The group allowed only those with valid residency in European or Gulf countries or those with a guarantor in terrorist PKK/YPG-held areas to enter, while others were sent back to Iraq, the sources said.

Mazen Alloush, director of public relations at Syria’s Land and Maritime Border Crossings Directorate General, said on X that all Syrians living in Iraq or northern Iraq’s KRG who want to return home should use the al-Bukamal border crossing, which is fully controlled by the Syrian government and is the only official crossing.

Alloush said the directorate is ready to receive returnees and provide the necessary services and assistance.

More expatriate Syrians are returning to the country after the fall last year of the Baath regime after decades in power.

Leaders in neighboring Türkiye have long warned of the terrorist group PKK/YPG trying to change the ethnic makeup of northern Syria, excluding Arabs and others, and working to establish a “terrorist corridor” along the Turkish border.