‘Iraqi-Syrian border is fully secured': Iraqi military spokesperson

"The security forces are ready to confront any attempt by ISIS remnants to infiltrate Iraqi territory."

Dler S. Mohammed 2022/01/23 12:21

Iraqi forces near the Syrian border. (Photo AFP)

Iraq Iraqi Security Forces ISF Iraqi-syrian border ISIS Hasakah Yehia Rasool

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Major General Yehia Rasool, the spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, confirmed on Saturday that the Iraqi-Syrian border is fully secure.

"There are directives issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces that included doubling the security effort on the Iraqi-Syrian border, after the events in the Syrian prison of Hasaka," Rasool said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency. "The security forces are ready to confront any attempt by ISIS remnants to infiltrate Iraqi territory."

Rasool emphasized that the border is protected by thermal cameras and barbed wire in addition to trenches.

"The remnants of ISIS do not have the ability to confront the Iraqi forces, and the fleeing terrorists do not pose a challenge to the security services," he said.

In a statement on Friday, the West Nineveh Operations Command also confirmed that terrorists escaping from the prison in the Syrian city of Hasakah cannot cross the international border.

In violent clashes that lasted for days, at least 22 ISIS militants were killed near a prison facility in the northeastern Kurdish-controlled city of Hasakah, the media center of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday.

ISIS' attack on Thursday evening was the largest, most sophisticated assault that it has carried out since 2019—when the US-led coalition and the SDF announced the defeat of the group's so-called caliphate.

Thursday's attack involved coordination between the imprisoned militants and ISIS sleeper cells outside.

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