Iraqi migrants caught in border tensions in Belarus fly home

By DARIA LITVINOVA and YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqis are flying home from Belarus, abandoning their hopes of reaching the European Union following more than a week of tensions at the bloc’s eastern border. Thousands of migrants became stuck there. But state-run Belarusian media reported Thursday that there were no more migrants left in the makeshift camps on the frontier with Poland after authorities opened up a heated warehouse nearby for them to shelter in. This could not immediately be verified. Since Nov. 8, some 2,000 people have been stranded at the border crossing, trapped in a dank forest as forces from the two countries faced off against each other. At least 12 people have reportedly died in the area in recent weeks.