The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq announced that their forces have deployed in new areas near the border with Syria.
Army commander Amir Rashid Yarallah also toured the border area in western Nineveh near Syria.
No reason was given for the reinforcements, but they took places a day after fierce fighting on the Lebanese-Syrian border and four days after Baghdad announced the killing of the head of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
The US Central Command said Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was killed in Iraq’s Anbar province in an operation in cooperation with Iraqi intelligence and security forces.
Iraqi authorities have tightened border security since the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December to prevent the infiltration of gunmen and members of ISIS to the country.
The PMF said its new reinforcements are in line with a deployment plan launched by the Nineveh operations command to boost security and stability in the area.
Forces are equipped with medium and heavy weapons and they will monitor the border to protect the country against any possible threat, it added.
Field sources in al-Anbar said they did not detect any unusual military activity near the border with Syria.
Also on Tuesday, the PMF stated that it did not record any security breach along the border with Syria.
Anbar operations commander Qassem Mosleh told the Iraqi News Agency that his forces are highly trained and armed. Effective cooperation is ongoing with all security agencies, including the army and police.
Moreover, he highlighted the high coordination with tribes in the area that have provided information about ISIS terrorist gangs.
Foreign Miniter Fuad Hussein had received in Baghdad last week his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani for talks on “joint security challenges”.
