Ankara Proposes an Alternative Border Gate to Baghdad

 Trucks are pictured after crossing the border between Iraq and Turkey as vehicles wait in line to pass Habur border gate near Silopi, Turkey, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Trucks are pictured after crossing the border between Iraq and Turkey as vehicles wait in line to pass Habur border gate near Silopi, Turkey, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Ankara Proposes an Alternative Border Gate to Baghdad

 Trucks are pictured after crossing the border between Iraq and Turkey as vehicles wait in line to pass Habur border gate near Silopi, Turkey, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Trucks are pictured after crossing the border between Iraq and Turkey as vehicles wait in line to pass Habur border gate near Silopi, Turkey, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Ankara plans to open an alternative border gate to replace the currently used Habur gate with Iraq’s Kurdistan and has asked Baghdad on Friday to help take the needed measures to prepare the new crossing border.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that if Baghdad decides to close all the borders, Turkey would respect the decision.

“We have proposed opening the new Ovakoy gate, west of currently used Habur gate, to Baghdad and we are expecting their support. We will be happy to discuss this with (Iraqi Prime Minister Haider) al-Abadi," Yildirim told reporters.

The prime minister added that Turkey’s new proposal aims to prevent any harm to the economic activities in the north of Iraq.

For his part, Ambassador Hisham al-Alawi told reporters on Friday at a news conference in Ankara that his country would use force if necessary to secure the crossing, adding that the military drills are a preparation for this.

“We are also mulling the possibility of opening a new border crossing,” he added, with a view to raising the volume of bilateral trade.

Al-Alawi said Yildirim would soon visit Baghdad, and that both governments should benefit from face-to-face meetings.

Meanwhile, the body of former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani was laid to rest on Friday in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah in the presence of tens of thousands of mourners including Iraqi officials and Iranian Foreign minister Moahmmed Javad Zarif.

Talabani died in Germany on Tuesday. His body left Berlin Friday morning.

The referendum on independence held last Sept. 25 in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region reigned on the funeral.

On the sidelines of the funeral procession, Zarif said Friday that the recent independence referendum of Iraq's Kurdistan region was a "strategic mistake.”

However, the Iranian foreign minister said that his country does not blame the Kurdish people for the mistake made by some of their leaders, he was quoted by the Foreign Ministry’s website.



Influential Far-right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza War Policy

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025
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Influential Far-right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza War Policy

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, also attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (not pictured), in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a "grave mistake" that he said would benefit the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel's military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his "next steps" but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition, Reuters reported.

Smotrich's comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.

"... the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas," Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as "logistical support for the enemy during wartime".

The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.

The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.

Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to UN estimates.

Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.

PRESSURE

Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.

Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.

The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.