Iraq to Set up Barbed Wire Fence to Secure Border with Iran

Iraqi soldiers are seen on duty. (INA)
Iraqi soldiers are seen on duty. (INA)
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Iraq to Set up Barbed Wire Fence to Secure Border with Iran

Iraqi soldiers are seen on duty. (INA)
Iraqi soldiers are seen on duty. (INA)

Iraq has kicked off a plan to erect a barbed wire fence to secure its borders with Iran.

The move is taking place days after Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al Shammari said Iraq’s border with Syria has been almost completely secured with surveillance cameras.

He added that the border with Iraq remains a source of concern given the activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

An Iraqi security source said on Sunday that the barbed wire fence with Iran will stretch from the eastern Diyala region to the Waset and Sulaymaniyah provinces.

Advanced thermal cameras and surveillance towers will also be set up along the border to prevent smuggling and any infiltrations, it added.

The erection of the fence is in line with a joint security agreement signed between Baghdad and Tehran in November 2023.

Separately, Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool announced the launch of a third phase of the anti-ISIS “Promise of Truth” operation carried out by the armed forces.

The latest phase aims to crack down on remnants of the extremist group in its “most dangerous hotbeds” between the provinces of al-Anbar and Diyala.

The operation was kicked off in the Salaheddine and Kirkuk regions at dawn on Sunday. It is being overseen by the Joint Operations Command and carried out according to accurate intelligence information, added Rasool.

Later on Sunday, the Joint Operations Command announced the killing of ten ISIS members during the third phase of the crackdown.



Jordan Foreign Minister Safadi to Visit Damascus on Monday

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, attending a press conference after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024.  EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, attending a press conference after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024. EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE
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Jordan Foreign Minister Safadi to Visit Damascus on Monday

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, attending a press conference after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024.  EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, attending a press conference after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024. EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will visit Damascus on Monday and meet with Syria's de facto new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Jordanian foreign ministry said in a post on X.
Al-Sharaa began outlining his first government after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, appointing a close ally and founding member of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, as Foreign Minister in the interim government.
He also appointed Aisha al-Dabbas, the first woman in his government, and assigned her a newly created office focused on women's affairs.
He also appointed Marhaf Abu Qasra as Minister of Defense, and Azam Gharib, as Governor of Aleppo.
Foreign governments began reaching out to the new regime in Damascus, shortly after the United States announced the cancellation of a $10 million reward for the arrest of al-Sharaa over alleged involvement in terrorism.