Tensions erupted again between rival Kurdish parties in Syria supported by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) of Turkey and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Iraq on Saturday, May 18, when the security forces of the PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD) arrested 74 members of the KDP-supported Democratic Party of Syria.
The 74 members reportedly underwent training in the camps controlled by the KDP in Iraq, before sneaking into Syria from Iraq. After the arrest, the KDP reportedly closed down the parts of the border near the Tigris River at the Faysh Khabur border crossing east of Al-Malikayah (Derik) in Syria.