Iraq Fortifies 80% of Its Border with Syria

Security forces are seen at the Iraqi-Syrian border, after it has been reopened for trade and travel, in Al Qaim, Iraq September 30, 2019. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Iraq.

Major General Yahya Rasool, the spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, announced on Saturday that 80% of the plan to fortify the border with Syria has been completed.

The plan aims to prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups and smugglers across the 600-kilometer long border between the two countries, he explained.

There is a little work left by the security agencies in fortifying the borders with Syria, Rasool told the official news agency.

“Earth mounds, fortifications, fences, towers and thermal surveillance cameras have been installed so far across the borderline,” he said.

Government spokesman Culture Minister Hassan Nadhim said on Wednesday that the cabinet decided to allocate funds to complete fortifications on the Iraqi-Syrian border.

In late 2017, Iraq announced the military defeat of ISIS after fighting battles that lasted about three years. Since then, it has been seeking to secure its western border with Syria, given the presence of most terrorist groups on the borderline between the two countries.

This border represented one of the largest gates for terrorist groups to enter Iraq after overthrowing Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.

ISIS, which controlled about one third of Iraq’s territories in 2014, was able to open the borders and move freely between the two countries before Iraqi forces defeated them militarily.

Some ISIS militants still infiltrate the long borders, which extend from Anbar Governorate in the west, passing through Nineveh Governorate and the Kurdistan Region in the north.

This prompts Iraqi forces to launch large-scale military operations on the borders every now and then to ensure security and pursue extremist groups that take refuge in some difficult to reach valleys and terrains.