NGOs say Iraq's Kurdish region sets limit on Syrian refugees

Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region in the north has limited the number of Syrian refugees allowed to cross the border to 3,000 per day, aid agencies said Tuesday. The cap was set after an exodus of about 30,000 refugees, believed to be mainly Syrian Kurds, poured into the territory over the past five days.

The figure includes some 20,000 now believed to have crossed over a new pontoon bridge along the largely closed border Thursday and Saturday, as well as 6,000 Sunday and about 3,000 Monday morning.

A Western diplomat in Geneva, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not clear how many more refugees might be on their way, adding: "We are not sure whether there is an actual quota policy or whether it is a practical ability to absorb them."

Heavy fighting between Kurdish militias and al-Qaeda-linked rebel groups in northeastern Syria helped fuel the mass exodus, according to activists. The clashes sharply escalated in Syria's northern provinces in recent months, which has some concerned that the situation could explode into a full-blown side conflict within Syria's broader civil war.

Asked about the reasons for the exodus, Jumbe Omari Jumbe, spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told reporters in Geneva: "There is a perception that violence will increase against (Syrian) Kurds by various armed groups, including al-Nusra," referring to a militant Syrian rebel group linked to al-Qaeda.

The massive influx of refugees has put a severe strain on Iraqi Kurdistan's regional government and aid agencies. The new arrivals join 154,000 Syrian refugees already in Iraq. In total, some 1.9 million Syrians have found refuge abroad from the country's relentless carnage.

The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, said it is sending 15 truckloads of supplies, including 3,100 tents, two prefabricated warehouses and thousands of metal cans to carry water from its regional stockpile in Jordan. It said the shipment should arrive by the end of the week.

The sudden mass influx of Kurdish refugees from Syria into Iraq increases the likelihood that Iraq's Kurdish region will act to protect its kin across the border, an adviser to Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said Monday.

Since authorities of the Iraqi Kurdish regional government shut the border between Syria and Iraq on May 19, the crossing has been largely closed apart from a single formal access point at Al-Wahid in the western province of Anbar.

Kurds are Syria's largest ethnic minority, making up more than 10 percent of the country's 23 million people. They are centered in the poor northeastern regions of Hassakeh and Qamishli, wedged between the borders of Turkey and Iraq. There are also several predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods in the capital, Damascus, and Syria's largest city, Aleppo.

Al Jazeera and wire services