Iraq Deploys Armored Vehicles to Border with Syria

A destroyed Syrian army helicopter sits on the tarmac the Nayrab military airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
A destroyed Syrian army helicopter sits on the tarmac the Nayrab military airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Iraq Deploys Armored Vehicles to Border with Syria

A destroyed Syrian army helicopter sits on the tarmac the Nayrab military airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
A destroyed Syrian army helicopter sits on the tarmac the Nayrab military airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)

Iraq sent armored vehicles on Monday to reinforce its long border with Syria, in a bid to ease concerns after a surprise offensive in the neighboring country by opposition groups.  

The lightning offensive by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied factions saw government forces lose full control of Syria's second city Aleppo for the first time since the civil war began in 2011.  

The attacks have caused unease in Iraq, which still bears the scars of decades of conflict, including the rise of the ISIS group.

"Any infiltration on the Syrian-Iraqi border is absolutely impossible, because of the fortifications and the combat units located there," interior ministry spokesman General Moqdad Miri said on Monday.

The defense ministry said "armoured units of the Iraqi army" were sent to reinforce the border, from the western border town of Al-Qaim to the border with Jordan further south.  

Similar forces were deployed along the border further north in Nineveh province, it said.  

The move comes after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 200 fighters from a pro-Iran Iraqi armed group being sent into Syria to support government forces.  

The Britain-based war monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, said the militants entered the al-Boukamal region through the border at Al-Qaim in two waves.  

When contacted by AFP, officials from Iraqi armed factions Kataib Hezbollah, Al-Nujaba and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada denied sending reinforcements.  

"It is still too early to take this type of decision," a Kataib Hezbollah commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.  

ISIS overran large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate".  

The group was defeated in Iraq in 2017 by local forces backed by a US-led international military coalition.  

"Iraq has taken solid precautions after the bitter experience of 2014," Qais al-Mohamadawi, Iraq's deputy commander of joint operations, said on Friday.



Hezbollah Strikes Israeli Position over Ceasefire Breaches, Israel Vows ‘Strong’ Response

Flares are fired from northern Israel over the southern Lebanese border village of Aita al-Shaab, on October 28,2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Flares are fired from northern Israel over the southern Lebanese border village of Aita al-Shaab, on October 28,2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
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Hezbollah Strikes Israeli Position over Ceasefire Breaches, Israel Vows ‘Strong’ Response

Flares are fired from northern Israel over the southern Lebanese border village of Aita al-Shaab, on October 28,2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Flares are fired from northern Israel over the southern Lebanese border village of Aita al-Shaab, on October 28,2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

Hezbollah said it carried out a "defensive warning strike" on an Israeli military position in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on Monday, citing repeated Israeli ceasefire violations including airstrikes and shelling in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched two missiles but caused no casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would respond "strongly" to the strike.

Earlier, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli forces fired two artillery shells towards the southern Lebanese town of Beit Lif in the Bint Jbeil district, while heavy machine gun fire targeted Yaroun.

No injuries were reported in either incident, NNA said, but a separate Israeli strike injured others in the town of Talousa.

Lebanese authorities also said Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least two people on Monday as the ceasefire, which follows more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, appeared increasingly fragile.

Lebanon has accused Israel of committing at least 50 violations of the ceasefire.

The truce, which came into effect early on Nov. 27, stipulates that Israel will not carry out offensive military operations against civilian, military or other state targets in Lebanon, while Lebanon will prevent any armed groups, including Hezbollah, from carrying out operations against Israel.

Lebanon and Israel have already traded accusations of breaches, and on Monday Lebanon said the violations had turned deadly.

One person was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, about 10 km (6 miles) from Israel's northern border, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Lebanon's state security said an Israeli drone strike had killed a member of its force while he was on duty in Nabatieh, 12 km from the border. State security called it a "flagrant violation" of the truce.

The Lebanese army said an Israeli drone hit an army bulldozer in northeast Lebanon near the border with Syria, wounding one soldier.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about the incidents in Marjayoun and Nabatieh.

It issued a statement saying it had attacked military vehicles operating near Hezbollah military infrastructure in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and military vehicles near the border with Syria.

The Israeli military acknowledged that a Lebanese soldier was wounded in one of its attacks and said the incident was under review.

Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and Beirut's main interlocutor in the ceasefire talks, said Lebanon had logged at least 54 Israeli violations so far.

In a statement issued by his office, Berri urged the committee tasked with monitoring the ceasefire to "urgently" begin work, and to "oblige" Israel to halt its violations and withdraw troops from Lebanese land.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that a monitoring mechanism hosted by the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon and chaired by the United States would "monitor, verify and assist in ensuring enforcement" of the ceasefire.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied that his country had breached the accord, saying the problem lay with Hezbollah moving weapons and crossing south of the Litani river, in defiance of last week's deal.

"Israel is committed to the successful implementation of the ceasefire, but we will not accept a return to the situation as it stood on October 6, 2023. If violations occur, Israel will enforce (the pact)," he said in a statement.

Public broadcaster Kan and other Israeli media outlets reported on Monday that US envoy Amos Hochstein, who brokered the ceasefire after weeks of shuttle diplomacy, had warned Israel against alleged violations.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that Israel must deal Hezbollah a "powerful blow" after he said it made a "big mistake" by firing at Israeli territory.