Latest news with #Syrian-Iraqi
Shafaq News
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Syria raid nets smuggling ring near Iraq border
Shafaq News/ Syrian security forces have arrested several suspected drug and weapons smugglers with alleged ties to Iranian-backed armed groups during a raid near the Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) stated on Friday. According to SOHR, General Security units sealed off the town of Al-Hari, near Al-Bukamal in eastern Deir Ezzor province, seizing large quantities of Captagon pills, firearms, and detonators. Additionally, Syrian forces have since reinforced their presence in the area by deploying additional border posts and patrol units. Stretching approximately 610 kilometers—300 kilometers in Nineveh province and 320 kilometers in Al-Anbar— the Syrian-Iraqi border is notoriously porous and difficult to monitor. Its rural and remote terrain makes it a favored route for drug and arms smugglers, as well as for militants seeking to infiltrate Iraqi territory. The border has long served as a corridor for trafficking operations involving narcotics, weapons, fighters, and other illicit goods, posing an ongoing security challenge to both Damascus and Baghdad. In response to these threats, Iraqi forces and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have intensified efforts to secure the frontier. Recent operations have included the deployment of additional PMF units, including brigades 30 and 17, along key border stretches. These units have been equipped with medium and heavy weaponry, along with thermal cameras for enhanced surveillance.
Shafaq News
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Syria raid nets smuggling ring near Iraq borde
Shafaq News/ Syrian security forces have arrested several suspected drug and weapons smugglers with alleged ties to Iranian-backed armed groups during a raid near the Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) stated on Friday. According to SOHR, General Security units sealed off the town of Al-Hari, near Al-Bukamal in eastern Deir Ezzor province, seizing large quantities of Captagon pills, firearms, and detonators. Additionally, Syrian forces have since reinforced their presence in the area by deploying additional border posts and patrol units. Stretching approximately 610 kilometers—300 kilometers in Nineveh province and 320 kilometers in Al-Anbar— the Syrian-Iraqi border is notoriously porous and difficult to monitor. Its rural and remote terrain makes it a favored route for drug and arms smugglers, as well as for militants seeking to infiltrate Iraqi territory. The border has long served as a corridor for trafficking operations involving narcotics, weapons, fighters, and other illicit goods, posing an ongoing security challenge to both Damascus and Baghdad. In response to these threats, Iraqi forces and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have intensified efforts to secure the frontier. Recent operations have included the deployment of additional PMF units, including brigades 30 and 17, along key border stretches. These units have been equipped with medium and heavy weaponry, along with thermal cameras for enhanced surveillance.
Shafaq News
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Al-Khanjar on Al-Sudani – Al-Sharaa phone call: Significant gesture
Shafaq News/ On Tuesday, Khamis al-Khanjar, the leader of Sovereignty Alliance (Al-Siyada) praised the phone call between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani and Syrian transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa. In a statement, Al-Khanjar described it as a "significant gesture" to strengthen ties between the two neighboring and brotherly countries. He emphasized that the conversation reaffirmed Iraq's commitment to Syria's territorial integrity and condemned the ongoing Israeli aggression against Syria. Moreover, Al-Khanjjar expressed hope that this step would "open wider doors for security, political, and economic cooperation" between the two countries, noting that "some discordant voices" were attempting to hinder the growing rapprochement between Syria and Iraq. "We commend this step and hope it will further open avenues for cooperation, despite attempts by some to disrupt the Syrian-Iraqi rapprochement and undermine the historical fraternal ties between Baghdad and Damascus," Al-Khanjar said. He pointed out that Iraq's foreign policy, based on openness to the Arab world in line with its national interests, enjoys strong support from national forces, particularly the Sovereignty Alliance, adding that "Iraq's sovereignty in decision-making marks a significant milestone in the country's political and international recovery." This phone call between the Iraqi and Syrian leaders marks the first direct conversation at the presidential level between the two countries. Last month, Iraq hosted Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani, who visited Iraq for the first time since the beginning of the transitional phase under President Al-Sharaa.
Iraqi News
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
PMF: We have not recorded any security breach on the border with Syria
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) confirmed on Tuesday that no security breach has been recorded on the Syrian border so far, while noting that the security forces are ready to face any aggression on the Iraqi border. 'The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have reached the rank of the highest level,' Qasim Musleh, the commander of the Anbar sector operations, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): 'The Popular Mobilization has reached a high level of training and armament, and is ready, and there is serious and effective cooperation between all security agencies, whether at the level of the army, borders, police and interior,' he said, noting that 'there is high coordination with the tribal mobilization, and they did not skimp on providing information against Daesh terrorist gangs.' 'All the tribal people and security forces are ready to face any aggression on the Iraqi borders,' he added, noting that 'there is a technical, intelligence and security effort in place and we follow all movements, whether through cameras and drones or from our information deep inside the Syrian side or on the Iraqi side.' 'Our movements are extensive, and the PMF's security and intelligence services are working day and night to obtain information,' he said: 'We have not recorded any security breach on the Syrian-Iraqi border so far.'
CBS News
15-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Leader of ISIS in Iraq and Syria killed in military operation, Iraqi prime minister says
The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced Friday. "The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism," Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X. Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or "Abu Khadija," was "deputy caliph" of the militant group and known as "one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world," the statement said. On his Truth Social platform Friday night, President Trump said: "Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters" in coordination with the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government. "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!" Trump posted. A security official said the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. A second official said the operation took place Thursday night but that al-Rifai's death was confirmed Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The announcement came on the same day as the first visit by Syria's top diplomat to Iraq, during which the two countries pledged to work together to combat the Islamic State. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said at a news conference that "there are common challenges facing Syrian and Iraqi society, and especially the terrorists of IS." He said the officials had spoken "in detail about the movements of ISIS, whether on the Syrian-Iraqi border, inside Syria or inside Iraq" during the visit. Hussein referred to an operations room formed by Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon at a recent meeting in Amman to confront IS, and said it would soon begin work. The relationship between Iraq and Syria is somewhat fraught after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Al-Sudani came to power with the support of a coalition of Iran-backed factions, and Tehran was a major backer of Assad. The current interim president of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani and fought as an al-Qaida militant in Iraq after the U.S. invasion of 2003, and later fought against Assad's government in Syria. But Syrian interim Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani focused on the historic ties between the two countries. "Throughout history, Baghdad and Damascus have been the capitals of the Arab and Islamic world, sharing knowledge, culture and economy," he said. Strengthening the partnership between the two countries "will not only benefit our peoples, but will also contribute to the stability of the region, making us less dependent on external powers and better able to determine our own destiny," he said. The operation and the visit come at a time when Iraqi officials are anxious about an Islamic State resurgence in the wake of the fall of Assad in Syria. While Syria's new rulers — led by the Islamist former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — have pursued Islamic State cells since taking power, some fear a breakdown in overall security that could allow the group to stage a resurgence. The U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing some bases where they have stationed troops during a two-decade-long military presence in the country. When the agreement was reached to end the coalition's mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders said the threat of the Islamic State was under control and they no longer needed Washington's help to beat back the remaining cells. But the fall of Assad in December led some to reassess that stance, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-allied political parties that brought current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022.
