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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Iraq to Repatriate Citizens Stuck on Belarus-Poland Border

Migrants walk towards the Bruzgi-Kuznica Bialostocka border crossing in an attempt to cross the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno Region, Belarus November 15, 2021.

Iraq Airways will carry out a repatriation flight on Thursday to bring Iraqis stuck on the Belarus-Poland border back home, the national flag carrier said on Wednesday.

Polish security forces used water cannon on migrants who threw rocks across the border, video footage shared by authorities showed on Tuesday.

The EU has accused Belarus of flying in thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa and pushing them to cross into EU and NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in retaliation for sanctions already imposed on Minsk. Belarus has denied deliberately fomenting the crisis.

It blames the West for the humanitarian disaster that is building on its border with Poland.

An estimated 4,000 migrants are at the border and many say Belarusian authorities are not allowing them to return to Minsk.

So far about 150 to 200 Iraqis already in Minsk have registered to fly home.

A first flight to evacuate Iraqi migrants from Belarus is planned for Thursday, Russia's RIA news agency cited Iraq's ambassador to Moscow as saying on Wednesday.

Iraq's Moscow embassy offered last week to help evacuate Iraqi nationals from Belarus.

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