Bashar al-Assad discusses 'border security' with Iraqi PMF leader
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday discussed the security of the Iraqi-Syrian border with the head of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Falih Al-Fayyadh in Damascus, according to a statement.
According to a statement from the Syrian Presidency, the two officials discussed areas of cooperation between the two countries, particularly "mutual security issues related to border control and fighting terrorist organizations."
They also emphasized the importance of ongoing cooperation between the two sides.
The Iraqi-Syrian border is almost 600-kilometers long. ISIS symbolically erased that international border in 2014 when it declared its self-styled caliphate across large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory.
The January jailbreak of Ghuwayran prison in Hasakah, where thousands of ISIS suspects are held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, raised concerns that some militants that escaped might infiltrate the Iraqi border.
In late January, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi visited his country's border with Syria to evaluate the security and vowed ISIS could not infiltrate it.