Iraq to open all borders to Syrian refugees

Zeenews Bureau

Baghdad: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given orders to open all the country’s borders to Syrian refugees, senior Iraqi border commander said on Monday.

Iraq’s security forces have been instructed to give support to refugees.

The 17-month conflict in Syria has sent tens of thousands of refugees streaming out of the country. But the idea of Syrians fleeing to Iraq is notable.

For years, Iraqis would head to Syria to escape widespread sectarian fighting during the worst of violence in their homeland between 2005 and 2007.

Now the refugee traffic is going the other way.

(With Agency inputs)