Baghdad ends air blockade on Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi authorities have said they will end a six-month air blockade imposed on Iraqi Kurdistan in response to the region’s independence vote, which was not recognized by Baghdad. Flights could resume within a we

After a six-month blockade, the airports of the Kurdish regional capital, Irbil, and second city Sulaimaniyah will be “reopened to international flights,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement on Tuesday. “Local Kurdish authorities [have] accepted that central authorities retake control of the two airports,” the statement said.