Iraq’s PM Abdel Mahdi: We must secure our borders fully

Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi announced on Sunday, that the arena of terrorism with Syria is common to the enemy and that Iraq has to secure its borders fully.

Abdel Mahdi statement came in the wake of his visit to the headquarters of the Joint Operations Command.

A statement from his office added that the Iraqi prime minister attended fully- during his meeting with security and military leaders- to a detailed presentation of the security plans, in addition to the security situation and how to secure the Iraqi-Syrian border.

He was also briefed on the heroic actions carried out by the Iraqi armed forces in their war against ISIS terrorist group.

The prime minister stressed the importance of continuing efforts, vigilance and the need to continue to track terrorist cells and secure the border.

Iraqi coordination with the international coalition

In this context, political analyst Hisham al-Hashemi, said that ISIS extremist group established itself in the western borders of Iraq and eastern Syria, after neglect by both the Iraqi and Syrian governments and with the blessing of the tribes in those areas back in 2014.

Hashemi pointed to the need of providing an Iraqi coordination with the International coalition to counter terrorism on the border as a necessity, noting that this is done by increasing the number of border guards and training them as a professional fighting force and not only a monitoring force on the border.

Risk of terrorist groups

The political analyst pointed out that the anti-terrorism measures on the Iraqi border face a number of challenges and obstacles that may impede the efforts of the Iraqi leadership to confront the threat of terrorist groups, which threaten the provinces of Nineveh, Salah el-Dinne, Anbar, Karbala and Najaf.

Hashemi said that the return of terrorism through gangs operations like blocking roads and staging attacks in the outskirts of cities and villages, are present and the security and military institutions have to face these challenges

He said the numbers of ISIS remnants can be estimated in the areas of the Iraqi desert and southern Nineveh to be around 800 members.