Iraq to establish 200 new outposts on Iran, Turkey borders

New military-grade thermal cameras are planned to be set up to monitor any movements along the border areas, he added.

Kurdistan 24 2022/12/21 15:35

Iraqi security forces stand guard outside a mountain tourist spot which was hit with artillery bombardment in the Zakho district village of Parakh in the north of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, July 22, 2022. (Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP)

Kurdistan Iraq Border force Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Border Guard is set to build 200 new outposts along the Iraqi borders with Turkey and Iran in a bid to bolster the security in those areas, a spokesperson confirmed to Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday.

The Border Guard Force has recently announced job openings for 3,000 soldiers in a bid to increase the number of the forces in the first and second brigades stationed in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq.

The new positions will be established in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s border areas with the two neighboring countries, which are regularly bombarded to suppress the alleged positions of their respective opposition groups, says Karwan Khoshnaw—a spokesperson for the force.

New military-grade thermal cameras are planned to be set up to monitor any movements along the border areas, he added.

As a result of repeated aerial and artillery bombardments by both Ankara and Tehran, civilians have frequently become victims of the long-standing conflicts. At least nine tourists were killed by an artillery bombardment in a resort in Zakho this summer.

A high-ranking border official was killed in 2020 by a Turkish airstrike in the Bradost area of the Kurdistan Region.

Condemning the attacks, Kurdish officials regularly call on both countries to respect the lives of the civilian population in these areas.