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                      Syrians Ferry Needed Goods From Iraq

   by Sebastian Meyer

   The ongoing conflict in Syria has led to chronic fuel and food
   shortages. Thousands of desperate Syrians are carrying goods across an
   unofficial border crossing opened by the semi-autonomous Kurdish
   government in northern Iraq.
   Syrian men, bent double under the weight of their sacks, begin the
   four-hour trek from Iraqi Kurdistan back to Syria.
   Every day more than 3,000 men make this journey into northern Iraq to
   get essentials such as food and gasoline for their families back home.
   Ali Muhammad Bedawi, 22, made a trip from Aleppo for macaroni and
   diapers. The journey took 14 hours.
   "There's no bread. There's no food. There's no gas. No fuel," he said.
   "People are starving."
   Only a very few see this as a business opportunity. A liter of gasoline
   purchased in Iraq for one dollar will sell in Syria for a mere 50-cent
   markup.
   "We don't sell the kerosene because we need at home," said fuel vendor
   Hussam Moussa. "We only sell the gasoline."
   The unofficial crossing has been opened by the semi-autonomous Kurdish
   government in northern Iraq without the permission of the central
   government in Baghdad.
   Kurdish officials say their own history of suffering gives them
   responsibility to help Syrian Kurds.
   "The Kurds of Iraq have taken lessons and have gone through those
   stages of history and I think that both the public itself and the
   administration itself in the KRG feel that it is a responsibility to
   act and to support and to provide assistance because we went through
   and we know how tough and how difficult it is," said Dr. Dindar Zebari,
   who is with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Department of
   Foreign Relations.
   As the sun begins to set, a few remaining stragglers rush to leave
   Iraq. And with the conflict in Syria showing little signs of ending,
   cross-border traffic is unlikely to ease.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/syrians-ferry-needed-goods-from-iraq/1588093.html