Iraqi paramilitary forces reach border with Syria

BAGHDAD— Iraq’s mostly Iran-backed Shiite paramilitary forces reached the border with Syria on Monday after securing a string of small villages west of Mosul, according to a spokesperson for the group.

The move follows a push by the government-sanctioned forces to retake a number of small villages and key supply lines from Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in the vast deserts west of Mosul.

Iraq’s conventional military has focused on clearing the city itself, a slow, grinding process in dense urban terrain packed with tens of thousands of civilians.

The paramilitary forces — mostly Shiite fighters with close ties to Iran referred to as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) — began Monday’s operation by pushing Daesh militants out of the centre of the town of Baaj, some 40 kilometres from the Syrian border, according to Shiite lawmaker Karim al-Nouri.

The fighters plan to “erect a dirt barricade and dig a trench” along the border, said Sheikh Sami al-Masoudi, a PMF leader, describing how the forces would secure the porous border area that has long been a haven for smugglers and insurgent activity.

Al-Masoudi described Baaj as the last Daesh supply line between Syria and Iraq. Iraq’s army, federal police and special forces launched the operation to retake Mosul last October with close backing from the U.S.-led international coalition. The city’s eastern half was declared liberated in January, and the push for the city’s western section, separated from the east by the Tigris River, began the following month.

Iraqi forces are closing in on the last pockets of Daesh control in Mosul’s Old City, a slow, gruelling fight that the United Nations warns could put the more than 100,000 civilians still trapped by Daesh at severe risk.