Syrian army team in Iraq to discuss border security
BAGHDAD: A high-level Syrian army delegation held talks in Baghdad with Iraqi counterparts on border security in the first public visit of its kind in years to coordinate the fight against Daesh, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
The Syrian army last week reached the Iraqi border in a move that could open an overland supply route from their allies in Iran, in a major concern for the US and its own allies in the region.
The Iraqi army’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Othman Al-Ghanmi met in Baghdad with a “high-level delegation” from the Syrian Defense Ministry on Tuesday to discuss controlling joint borders, according to a ministry statement.
“The meeting discussed ... the Iraqi-Syrian field of operations, it being one field against a common enemy, which is the terrorist Daesh organization...,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We discussed holding Syria-Iraq borders to maintain pressure on the terrorist enemy and establishing a joint operations center through which both sides can coordinate,” it added.
The statement did not give details on the delegation. Iraqi military sources said previous visits by senior Syrian officials were held in secret.
The Iraqi army chief of staff said they also agreed to continue exchange of intelligence and information to provide flexibility for the Iraqi Air Force to bomb targets near the border and deprive militants of access from one country to the other.
Syrian troops and allied militia in the southeast Syrian desert reached the Iraqi border last week near the Tanf base where US special forces are training local opposition fighters to fight Daesh.
Securing border territory between Iraq and Syria is crucial also for Iran to reopen a land route to supply Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army with weapons in his protracted war with fighters and militants.
Iraqi warplanes struck Daesh targets inside Syria in February in what appeared to be the first time Iraqi jets conducted such raids across the border. A Syrian source said the strikes had been coordinated with Damascus.