Belarus-Poland border crisis: Another Iraqi Airways' flight carrying migrants leaves Minsk

Amid the ongoing Belarus-Poland border conflict, another Iraqi Airways plane carrying migrants of Iraqi origin has taken off from Minsk airport for Erbil, the administrative capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, the airport informed on November 27. Two further evacuation flights to Erbil were confirmed by the Minsk airport on Friday. As per Politico, more than 600 people had returned to Erbil, on Thursday and Friday. Around 400 Iraqi residents were evacuated on an Iraqi Airways flight from Belarus' border to Minsk on Thursday, CNN reported, citing the Iraqi Transportation Ministry. 

Notably, hundreds of Iraqis had arrived at the Minsk airport after leaving their aspirations of entering the European Union. Jihad al-Diwan, chief of media relations for Iraq's civil aviation authority stated that 390 of the 430 passengers who traveled from Minsk landed at Irbil International Airport in Iraq's northern Kurdistan area before continuing on to Baghdad.

As per Iraqi authorities who coordinated the repatriation, some 30 migrants who were registered for the trip encountered issues with their passports and could not travel, AP reported. 

Belarus-Poland border crisis

Tensions escalated in the European Union's borders after roughly 2,000 individuals were trapped between Poland and Belarus. Several incidents of clashes between migrants and border authorities have been reported since then. On Tuesday, a group of migrants attempting to cross over into the EU-member nation pelted stones at Polish forces, who retaliated by firing tear gas and water cannons. 

Moreover, nearly 12 individuals have lost their lives on the Poland-Belarus border in recent weeks due to severe climate conditions and a lack of humanitarian assistance. A one-year-old was the youngest who died on Thursday, according to a Polish humanitarian group. 

It should be mentioned that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been accused by the West of using immigrants as a tool to destabilise the 27-nation bloc in retribution for penalties placed on his alleged repressive rule. Belarus denies being responsible for the issue, which has seen refugees pour into the nation over the summer, attempting to enter Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

(Image: AP/Shutterstock)