1,800 Iraqi refugees return home from Belarusian border: Airline

By Ali Cura

GRODNO, Belarus (AA) - Over 1,870 Iraqi refugees stranded at the Belarusian border have returned home so far, Iraqi Airways said on Sunday.

According to a statement by the flag carrier, 1,876 Iraqi citizens have returned to their country from the Belarusian capital Minsk on evacuation flights, so far.

The flights will continue through Sunday and Monday, it added.

In early November, many asylum seekers tried to cross the border to enter Poland from Belarus, where there are currently about 4,000 stranded asylum seekers, according to the Polish Press Agency.

The EU accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of coordinating the arrival of this wave of migrants and refugees to the eastern edge of the bloc in response to European sanctions imposed on his country after his regime's "brutal repression" against the opposition.