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Iraq tightens Syria border management after large IS jailbreak

After tons of of alleged Islamic State (IS) fighters escaped detention facilities in northeastern Syria in an assault in late January, Iraq says it has stepped up management of its western border.

The main target has been on Ninevah province, the birthplace of the now-defunct IS chief often called Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. Quraishi reportedly blew himself up early Feb. 3 throughout a US Particular Forces raid on his hideout in northwestern Syria.

The Iraqi intelligence companies had, allegedly with the help of their Turkish counterparts, captured an in depth affiliate of Quraishi in October 2021 and introduced him again to the nation for interrogation.

In a Jan. 31 security briefing, the commander of the Iraqi Border Guard Forces, Lt. Gen. Hamid al-Husseini, acknowledged, “The forces have begun to develop a strategic plan to regulate the borders with Syria. The borders are fully monitored by thermal cameras.”

He claimed that the Iraqi forces had stopped “many of the cross-border smuggling” that has lengthy plagued that individual border.

The jailbreak started with a suicide attack on the night of Jan. 20, and preventing continued with temporary lulls for over every week afterward. Combing operations continued in northeastern Syria as of early February, however tons of of IS suspects had then reportedly left town.

Hundreds of these detained within the amenities have been Iraqi nationals.

A supply from jap Syria had advised Al-Monitor late final yr that the jail attacked in late January continued to host many high-value Iraqi IS leaders, together with a number of who had direct contact with IS’ first chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Lots of the tens of hundreds of individuals held in camps in northeastern Syria, most of whom are family members of IS fighters, are additionally Iraqi nationals.

On Nov. 13, three Iraqi nationals together with one lady have been reportedly shot and killed in al-Hol camp in Hasakah province, the place the January jailbreak occurred.

The camp is run by the Kurdish-led administration and at the moment houses over 50,000 people, roughly half of whom are Iraqis. Of the 78 folks identified to have been killed within the camp final yr, 58 were Iraqis and at the very least 10 were beheaded.

Iraq’s prolonged border with Syria is infamous for being porous and ceaselessly crossed by fighters of assorted teams together with Iran-linked “resistance” armed factions, teams linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, IS and different terrorist teams.

In December, Al-Monitor reported that jihadis lately arrived from Syria had allegedly been concerned in a string of attacks on peshmerga forces: “If these forces have been making their strategy to Iraq and at the moment are enjoying a component in assaults attributed to IS, this is able to imply that ratlines have been solidified and networks are seemingly in place to usher in extra international fighters which are ‘too excessive’ to dwell underneath the yoke of HTS [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] in Idlib or who’ve grown involved about presumably being targeted there.”

The nation’s border with Syria has additionally lengthy suffered from the smuggling of drugs, sheep and different items, and at instances IS fighters have allegedly disguised themselves as shepherds to cross the border.

In early 2020, the pinnacle of Iraq’s elite Falcon Cell Intelligence at the moment, a person often called Abu Ali al-Basri, had advised Al-Monitor in an interview that the huge desert of the Anbar area in western Iraq alongside the Syrian border had a lower risk of IS attacks, partially as a result of IS was involved that among the shepherds within the principally desert area “could also be our sources,” and that IS thus now not trusted the realm as a lot.

Nevertheless, most of Iraq’s border with Syria bordering the territory underneath the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — accountable for the jail from which the tons of of IS members escaped late final month — lies in Ninevah province, north of Anbar.

On Jan. 31, the Iraqi Inside Ministry’s Company of Intelligence and Federal Investigation stated that it had arrested two IS affiliates in Ninevah province, together with the commander of the Omar Ibn al-Khattab Brigade. No additional particulars on the brigade or when and precisely the place the arrests had taken place have been supplied.

On the Jan. 31 safety briefing, the deputy commander of Joint Operations Command, first Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir al-Shammari, claimed, “There’s full management over [Iraq’s] worldwide borders. A second line [of defense] can be established and extra forces can be sent to the border guards.”

Iraq has been attempting to fortify this border because it declared a territorial defeat of IS within the nation in December 2017.

This concerned, in line with the media outlet Diyaruna, “the establishing of three parallel defense lines 10 meters aside: The primary begins with a steel fence, the second consists of barbed wire and watchtowers, whereas the third line consists of 100 long-range thermal cameras.”

The US-led worldwide coalition towards IS has supplied each coaching border guards and thermal cameras, which appear to have confirmed helpful for fighting terrorism usually and for catching these attempting to cross into Iraq.

In November, a number of households that Iraqi media retailers referred to as “IS families” have been caught utilizing these cameras and despatched again to Syria.

Counterterrorism Providers (CTS) chief Col. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi reportedly acknowledged that the CTS had carried out 21 operations over the earlier month and had arrested 17 detainees now underneath investigation. The CTS focuses primarily on operations against IS.

Corruption, nevertheless, has additionally lengthy been of serious concern, as bribes are typically a part of cross-border smuggling.

Within the February 2020 interview with the Falcon Cell Intelligence chief, Basri had confused, “Terrorism generates corruption and corruption generates terrorism,” urging higher measures to scale back this longstanding plague on Iraq.

Stopping corruption at customs points alongside the nation’s borders was one of many first focuses of Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s authorities.

In January, Iraq was taken off the European Union’s list of nations at excessive threat of cash laundering and financing terrorism.

Corruption and the unregulated crossing of borders by some armed factions, alongside different points, may, nevertheless, proceed to create issues for border management.

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