ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s interior ministry said on Sunday that the country’s border with Syria is “completely secured” from movements of the Islamic State (ISIS) as Baghdad continues efforts to bolster border security against the backdrop of the events in Syria.
“Our border is completely secured and there are no movements [across the border],” ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri told Rudaw’s Ranja Jamal about alleged ISIS activities across the Iraq-Syria border.
Baghdad shut the border in December when the regime of its ally Bashar al-Assad was toppled by rebels. The Iraqi government deployed troops to the border but said it would maintain ties with Damascus. In January, Miri said that Iraq had extended its concrete wall along the Syrian border as a part of its effort to fight terrorism and drug trade.
The spokesperson added that they maintain “a high level of cooperation” with the Kurdistan Region’s interior ministry, particularly in anti-narcotics efforts and combatting cross-border crimes.
“Many operations have been done and many suspects, criminals, and criminal networks have been arrested by joint-operations teams with authorities present in the [Kurdistan] Region,” Miri added.
Iraqi and Kurdish security forces have carried out numerous joint raids against ISIS in recent years.
ISIS seized control of swathes of territory in northern and central Iraq in 2014. Their so-called caliphate was brought to an end in 2017, but the group continues to pose a security threat, particularly in the disputed territories that stretch across several provinces including Diyala, Salahaddin, Kirkuk, and Nineveh.
Last year, Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari told Rudaw that the threat of ISIS is “under continuous confinement.”
Drug dealing and usage in Iraq have been rising at an alarming rate, despite strict governmental measures to combat the phenomenon.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has repeatedly stated that his cabinet is committed to fighting drugs as seriously as the country fights terrorism.
Iraq’s judiciary has handed down strict sentences for drug-related crime, including 140 death sentences and 500 life imprisonment (20 years in Iraqi law) sentences for smugglers and dealers since the start of 2023, according to official data from the interior ministry.
