Baghdad – WAA
The commander of the border forces, Lieutenant General Muhammad Sakr al-Saidi, announced today, Wednesday, the formation of 13 regiments to enhance security on the border with Syria. While he confirmed the implementation of 7 measures to secure it, he revealed a bridge project linking the bank of the Euphrates with the zero border.
Al-Saeedi said in an interview with the (INA): “The Iraqi-Syrian border extends for more than 600 kilometers and is divided into two parts, north and south of the Euphrates. 300 kilometers of it extend from the north of the Euphrates River, that is, from Al-Qaim and the Euphrates in the south to the Tigris River and Fishakhbour in the north, and the second part extends from Al-Qaim to Rabia and Mount Sinjar, also for about 300 kilometers.”
Sensitivity of the border with Syria
He added, “The borders with Syria are a sensitive issue because controlling borders in all countries of the world is a shared responsibility between two or more countries depending on their distance, but in the part extending from Al-Qaim to Rabia, there is no control from the Syrian side and the Syrian Democratic Forces are deployed there.”
Al-Saeedi continued: “On the Iraqi side, it faces the borders extending from the south of Mount Sinjar to Al-Qaim and from the Al-Baaj desert to Al-Hadr. After the liberation operations, these areas were taken over by army units. In 2021, this area was taken over by the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Sixth Region Border Forces, which was previously the Sixth Federal Police Division.”
He said, “When we started to control the region, the General Command of the Armed Forces began to deploy fortifications to close the gaps, and the Minister of Interior, Abdul Amir Al-Shammari, played a major role in achieving this goal, as he felt that controlling the borders was a priority to support the country’s security.”
Fortifications reinforced with concrete wall
He pointed out that “great capabilities were allocated to our leadership, as we worked on a seven-axis plan that included digging a trench 3 meters wide and 3 meters deep, placing a one-meter-high barrier, in addition to placing a four-way hedgehog blower, a BRC fence, and deploying guard posts for every kilometer with a concrete tower, as the borders were covered with interconnected thermal cameras, and the most important part of it was the extension of a concrete wall 170 kilometers long. In the coming days, we will work on completing the extension of an optical cable with the borders that transmits an image and direct communication to our headquarters, and we have the required cameras.”
He explained, “A special factory was also established to produce concrete blocks, and it produced blocks 50 kilometers long from border resources, reducing the cost of building the wall by half of its amount from companies, which is around 7 billion dinars.” He explained that “this factory is affiliated with the Border Forces Command on the border strip within Nineveh Governorate, and work is continuing to complete the wall, and we have ideal fortifications on the Iraqi border with Syria.”
Reinforcing the borders with 13 regiments
He explained that “the units present there were reinforced after the formation of additional regiments,” stressing that “the total number of what we formed is 13 regiments, including 3 mechanized infantry regiments, 10 infantry regiments, and a brigade headquarters within the 21st Brigade. The Sixth Region, which holds this part of the border, had a large part of this reinforcement, and thus we now have appropriate reserve forces and our units have been reinforced.”
He pointed out that “the fortifications and efforts made contributed to ending infiltration and smuggling by 95%, as we now have an excellent force that goes beyond the issue of smuggling and infiltration in terms of combat readiness, the size of the fortifications, and electronic surveillance in this region.”
“A 13 km long wall was built between the Iraqi city of Al-Qaim and the Syrian city of Al-Bukamal, where there was an ISIS pocket. We separated the overlap between the Iraqi and Syrian villages and secured the area,” he explained, noting that “there is a project to build a bridge on the bank of the Euphrates with the zero border, which gives the border units the necessary empowerment and flexibility. There are procedures and promises from the authorities to transfer this bridge to the bank of the Euphrates, and thus our borders with Syria have reached an excellent level of control and do not pose any threat.”
He continued: “The areas north of Al-Qaim are also secured by a line of army units reinforced with tanks and artillery, and there is a high level of coordination with the second line in depth represented by Border Guard units to secure the area,” noting that “the borders do not pose any threat to us in terms of infiltration and smuggling.”