Iraq border guard leaders meet Syria regime representatives in Baghdad

Iraqi border guard leaders met in Baghdad with officers from the Syrian regime’s forces on Monday in the first such encounter since mid-2021.

The meeting focused on border security and preventing infiltration and smuggling attempts by gangs and smuggling networks.

Syrian regime border guard chief Ghassan Mahmoud was among those who attended, his Iraqi counterpart Hamid Al-Husseini said, according to the official Iraqi News Agency.

“A meeting was held to discuss securing the mutual borders between the two countries, strengthening cooperation to prevent any terrorist attempt to tamper with the stable security [situation], and continuing the fortification [operations] accomplished by the border guard command on the Iraqi side,” Al-Husseini said.

Mahmoud and his delegation were hosted at the Iraqi border guards’ headquarters.

The Syrian border with Iraq is divided among several parties to Syria’s ongoing conflict.

Most of it is controlled by President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and their Iran-backed militia allies, while the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces controls around a third of the 620-kilometre frontier.

There have been several attempts to infiltrate Iraqi border towns and cities from within Syria, and smugglers are active. The Islamic State militant group remains active despite being territorially defeated in both countries.

Iraqi officials attribute the smuggling and infiltration issues to corruption and an unwillingness on the Syrian side to seriously control the borders, including preventing people wanted on terrorism charges from crossing the frontier.

Iraqi forces have carried out five ground operations in the Iraq-Syria border areas since mid-May, The New Arab’s Arabic sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, reported.

Tunnels and caves were filled in and “fragile” areas permitting infiltrators to cross the border from Syria were secured.

Iraqi Joint Operations Command spokesperson Tahsin Al-Khafaji earlier announced the strengthening of security measures on the Syrian border with additional forces to “prevent the infiltration of terrorists”.

He said the borders have been fortified and gaps closed, given that the Islamic State group is active in northeastern Syria and is trying to infiltrate parts of Iraq.

Al-Khafaji announced the creation of a “barrier three metres high and three metres wide along the border strip, in addition to the construction of modern watchtowers and installation of thermal cameras and modern equipment to detect intruders” among other efforts.