The Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced on Wednesday that it had completed the closure of about 140 kilometers of the border with Syria.
Major General Tahsin Al-Khafaji, the spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, said that his country is seeking to close part of its international borders with Syria from the side of Nineveh province, adjacent to the cities of Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah
“The Iraqi forces distributed their personnel, deployed thermal surveillance cameras, and strengthened their intelligence and security efforts,” he confirmed.
The Iraqi official indicated that the Joint Operations Command is seeking to close part of the border by using earthen fences, barbed wire and towers obtained through the U.S.-led international coalition to secure the border.
According to informed Iraqi sources, Baghdad is seeking to secure up to 200 kilometers of the Iraqi border with Syria, and securing the Iraqi-Syrian border has become a priority for the government because of the many challenges in this context.
Local media quoted government sources as saying that the government has allocated large sums of money to finance border fortifications, especially for surveillance cameras and high towers, in addition to monitoring and tracking any infiltration, since the area is very complex geographically.
Iraq has already criticized the regime of Bashar al-Assad at the end of September, when the spokesman for the Iraqi forces, Major General Tahsin Al-Khafaji, spoke of a weakness on the Syrian side in controlling the border, leading to the infiltration of “saboteurs.”
On November 14, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced the thwarting of an attack it described as “terrorist”, from the Syrian side towards Iraq in the border area of Al-Duukji, west of Sinjar Mountain.
On February 23, Iraqi authorities arrested 11 Syrians as they tried to infiltrate from Syrian territory into Iraqi territory and cross the border in the western Nineveh.
