Today is the last day for all non-trade civilian crossing until the border of Syria along the Tigris River is sealed off for an indefinite and unknown period of time by the Turkish state-aligned Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). For the second time in two years the KDP made the decision to close the crossing, citing tensions with the Democratic Union Party (PYD) of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Each closure comes with a deteriorating humanitarian situation as communities in the region are stripped of their mobility.

Above a Tigris of many invisible borders, one swims in an endless river of vehicles among mothers and children crying, a stream of families descending on the front entrance with hopes of getting across. Many families are left stranded and split apart by the riverine border. Others are desperate to cross it for a wide range of reasons, urgency varying from financial security to life-saving medical care.

At the intersection of three nation-states and two autonomous regions, Semalka/Pesh Khabour remains one of the most weaponized border crossings on the planet. Here the Syrian, Turkish, and Iraqi states hover and apply pressure to the self-governing Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and Kurdistan Regional Government which control the crossing.

A colorful array of state, party, and organization flags can be found on many a building and bureau looming over the river as packed buses cross to and from. The Barzani dynasty of the KDP, which controls the Pesh Khabour half of the crossing, has closed Semalka/Pesh Khabour on multiple occasions under pressure from the Turkish state to keep a hard blockade on Rojava/northeast Syria.