On October 27, an Iraqi official confirmed to France Press Agency (AFP) that the Iraqi Army is willing to take control over the Faysh Khabur border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The official told AFP that the Iraqi Army gave the Peshmerga “hours only to withdrew from Faysh Khabur”.
Meanwhile, the US-backed Syrian Democratic forces (SDF) announced, that Faysh Khabur border crossing is close for public due to security reasons. It’s believed that the SDF decision to close the border crossing is related to the Iraqi Army advance towards it.
Back on October 25 , the Iraqi Army 15th Divison secured the Rabia border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to Iraqi sources. An officer of the 15th division told the Turkish Anadolu Agency back then that the border crossing was fully secured after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters had withdrawn from it.
With the Suwaidia border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border already closed due to nearby clashes between the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army, the SDF-held area in Syria is now cut off from the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
If the Iraqi Army captures the Faysh Khabur border crossing it will not only isolate the SDF and the PKK in Syria from the Kurdistan Region, but it will also secure a strategic pipeline that allows Iraq to export its oil directly to Turkey.
