Iraq and Syria Sign Memorandum for Security Cooperation

Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari welcomes his Syrian counterpart, Muhammad Khaled Al-Rahmoun in Baghdad (Iraqi Interior Ministry)
Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari welcomes his Syrian counterpart, Muhammad Khaled Al-Rahmoun in Baghdad (Iraqi Interior Ministry)
TT
20

Iraq and Syria Sign Memorandum for Security Cooperation

Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari welcomes his Syrian counterpart, Muhammad Khaled Al-Rahmoun in Baghdad (Iraqi Interior Ministry)
Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari welcomes his Syrian counterpart, Muhammad Khaled Al-Rahmoun in Baghdad (Iraqi Interior Ministry)

Iraq and Syria inked on Sunday a memorandum of understanding for security cooperation in various areas, including combating terrorism.
“The agreement included a number of articles related to cooperation in combating drug trafficking, border control, extradition of wanted persons, combating organized crime, and money laundering,” said Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al-Shammari.
His remarks came in a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart, Muhammad Khaled Al-Rahmoun.
In January, Iraq built a concrete wall of 160-km -- 3 meters deep and 3 meters across -- along part of its border with Syria to stop people and vehicles crossing the vast, sparsely populated desert that joins western Anbar province to Syria.
On Sunday, Al-Shammari spoke of a “good” intelligence cooperation between Baghdad and Damascus, saying the two countries “have joint work in exchanging information.”
For his part, the Syrian Minister said: “Cooperation in all fields, especially security, was discussed, as we suffered from terrorism in our countries. There is a criminal phenomenon managed by drug trafficking and human trafficking gangs, so we signed a memorandum of joint security cooperation.”
In a related security development, the Security Media Cell, an affiliate of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, announced in a statement that Iraqi security forces have successfully dismantled two international networks engaged in human and drug trafficking and arrested 40 foreigners across the country.
Security forces arrested the suspects in Baghdad and several other Iraqi provinces based on intelligence reports, the statement read.
“The Iraqi National Intelligence Service, in collaboration with the Interior Ministry, arrested 40 foreigners suspected of being involved in crimes of kidnapping, extortion, forgery, as well as human and drug trafficking,” it added.
The statement said the majority of the victims targeted by these two rings were foreigners residing in Iraq.



WHO Says Gaza Health Care at Breaking Point as Fuel Runs Out

In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP
In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP
TT
20

WHO Says Gaza Health Care at Breaking Point as Fuel Runs Out

In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP
In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP

The World Health Organization on Tuesday pleaded for fuel to be allowed into Gaza to keep its remaining hospitals running, warning the Palestinian territory's health system was at "breaking point".

"For over 100 days, no fuel has entered Gaza and attempts to retrieve stocks from evacuation zones have been denied," said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, AFP reported.

"Combined with critical supply shortages, this is pushing the health system closer to the brink of collapse."

Peeperkorn said only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were currently minimally to partially functional. They have a total of around 1,500 beds -- around 45 percent fewer than before the conflict began.

He said all hospitals and primary health centres in north Gaza were currently out of service.

In Rafah in southern Gaza, health services are provided through the Red Cross field hospital and two partially-functioning medical points.

Speaking from Jerusalem, he said the 17 partially functioning hospitals and seven field hospitals were barely running on a minimum amount of daily fuel and "will soon have none left".

"Without fuel, all levels of care will cease, leading to more preventable deaths and suffering."

Hospitals were already switching between generators and batteries to power ventilators, dialysis machines and incubators, he said, and without fuel, ambulances cannot run and supplies cannot be delivered to hospitals.

Furthermore, field hospitals are entirely reliant on generators, and without electricity, the cold chain for keeping vaccines would fail.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that 5,194 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on the territory on March 18 following a truce.

The overall death toll in Gaza since the war broke out on October 7, 2023 has reached 55,493 people, according to the health ministry.

"People often ask when Gaza is going to be out of fuel; Gaza is already out of fuel," said WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer Thanos Gargavanis, speaking from the Strip.

"We are walking already the fine line that separates disaster from saving lives. The shrinking humanitarian space makes every health activity way more difficult than the previous day."