Kurdish Government Agrees to Reopen Syria Border Crossing

[Aslan]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has agreed to reopen a crossing along the Syrian border, closed after the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria was accused of imposing taxes and bribes on food supplies into the war-torn country, officials said.

They said the KRG’s agreement on Saturday to reopen the Fishkhapur crossing was signed with the Syrian Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the PYD, which controls the area and has been accused by other Kurdish opposition groups in Syria of ties to the Damascus regime.

“Preparations have been made to open a border point between Syrian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Region in order for humanitarian aid to reach western Kurdistan smoothly,” PYD co-leader Salih Muslim told Rudaw. He dismissed claims that his party had been profiting from the route.

“Paying a dollar or two per person should not be called a payoff. It is the source of income for the guards who protect the borders,” Muslim said.

Saturday’s agreement stipulates that the crossing is to be controlled by a Kurdish committee on the Syrian side, not armed PYD guards as before.

Mustafa Cuma, general-secretary of the Kurdistan Freedom Party in Syria, told Rudaw that the PYD must respect the agreement with a signed pledge to not profit from the humanitarian supplies.

“The KRG had not closed its doors to the Syrian Kurds, but to those smugglers who try to take advantage of the people,” Cuma said.

Syria’s Kurdish regions are gripped by acute fuel and food shortages, as a civil war between an opposition coalition and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad appears to be coming to a head.

Fishkhapur lies 25 kilometers west of the city of Zakho, and shares a 15-kilometer border with Syria’s Kurdistan region. The residents of the area include Kurds and Christians.

[Anthea]

PYD must respect the agreement with a signed pledge to not profit from the humanitarian supplies

So it should, how could any Kurds make a profit on humanitarian supplies for Kurds dying of hunger and thirst