Iraq deploying troops to reinforce border with Syria: defense ministry

Turkey's Peace Spring operation, aimed at clearing northern Syria of Kurdish forces and resettling up to three million Syrian refugees from Turkey, continued on Tuesday – but with limited gains. Kurdish forces have reportedly re-established full control over the border town Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain).

Amid the chaos of the Turkish operation, ISIS militants have escaped from camps. US officials say Turkish forces are intentionally shelling prisons where ISIS members are housed to help them escape.

Iraq, which had large swathes of its territory occupied and overrun by ISIS in 2014, and had to fight a bloody war to liberate territory from the terror group, is fearful that fighters will make their way back into Iraq.

"We are fearful, that due to the Turkish attack on Syria, Daesh members could sneak into Iraq as a result," Brigadier Tahsin al-Khafaji, media officer of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, told Rudaw on Tuesday, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

The spokesperson claimed that 13,000 ISIS members are waiting for an opportunity to infiltrate Iraq. "There are 13,000 ISIS members, most of them prominent Daesh leaders, of different nationalities who are battle-hardened and experienced, and they could pose a grave danger to Iraq," added al-Khafaji.

Thus, Iraq wants to prevent such infiltration by reinforcing the border through a new troop deployment. "Military reinforcement has been sent to the Iraq-Syria border," added al-Khafaji.

Besides the troop deployment, watchtowers and 24-hour aerial surveillance have been put in place. Moreover, Iraq has established a communications channel with the Syrian government, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Turkey, and the US to "prevent possible security breaches".

Iraq officially announced the defeat of ISIS in late 2017. Despite the announcement, ISIS has reverted back to its old insurgency hit-and-run tactics. It is known to stage almost daily attacks against Iraqi forces.

Those fears have been at the heart of Iraq's diplomacy as of late. On Monday morning, Iraq's President Barham Salih received a phone call from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The two discussed the situation in Syria.

Spoke with Iraqi President Barham Salih yesterday to discuss our concerns over ongoing Turkish military incursion into Northeast Syria and the need for Turkey to stop its military offensive. I also affirmed our commitment to a strong, sovereign, and prosperous Iraq.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 15, 2019

"In another part of the call, the developments in the Turkish military operation in northern Syria were discussed, and the humanitarian situation, the stopping of the military operation, and not to give [ISIS] terrorists a chance again to regroup their remnants and threaten the security of the region and the world were emphasized," an Iraqi presidential readout on Monday read.

Salih raised the same issues in a phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. 

Iraq even chaired last week's Arab League emergency session concerning the Turkish operation, condemning it as a "flagrant violation of the sovereignty, independence and the unity of [Syrian] soil”.

Even Iran-backed groups of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic, have expressed worry over the Turkish operation.

"What is happening on Iraq's border with Syria due to the operations of the Turkish Army, in which armed groups participate, is a big and direct threat to  Iraqi national security," Qais al-Khazali, secretary general of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite paramilitary, said on October 12.

"We are not unaware of what is happening in Syria currently. We are there in all of our operational sectors. What is going on in Syria is a very dangerous thing, especially the Turkish attack against the Syrian soil, the change taking place," Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the PMF commission, said from Iraq's holy city of Karbalah on Monday.

There is a possibility that thousands of ISIS prisoners could, "God Forbid”, be released and then spill over into Iraq, added Muhandis.

They have the "highest degree" of coordination with Iraq's military and border guards to "prevent infiltration" and to have their eyes on the border.

Turkey's Ambassador to Iraq, Fatih Yildiz, however, appeared to be upset by the Iraqi leadership's stance, asking Iraq to stand by Turkey in a Sunday press conference at the Turkish embassy in Baghdad.

"We have and we still cooperate with Iraq in the field of counterterrorism, and we hope Iraqis understand that this operation [Peace Spring] targets terror, and we are waiting for them to stand by our side," Yildiz said.

"We have a joint understanding with Iraq in the field of counterterrorism," claimed Yildiz.