ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian border deployments are taking place with Iraq's “full knowledge” to secure vulnerable sectors under bilateral agreements, the spokesperson for the Iraqi Commander-in-Chief said Thursday, adding that Baghdad has received no evidence from Saudi Arabia linking Iraqi territory to recent attacks against the kingdom that triggered a joint Riyad-Washington strikes on several bases of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
"These movements were requested by Iraq because, following the regime change, most border posts on the Syrian side were left deserted,” Sabah al-Numan told Rudaw’s Malik Mohammed, noting that they asked Damascus to “reoccupy and secure” the nearly 600-kilometers-long shared border left unguarded following the ouster of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.
Numan’s statement came after Syria on Tuesday deployed military formations across border points with Iraq and Lebanon as “part of sovereign measures to tighten control and enhance security,” according to Syrian state media, which attributed the buildup to monitoring crossings, “regulate movement, and track suspicious activities that could pose threats before they escalate.”
Media reports also pointed to Iraqi security forces reinforcing their side of the border. Deployed assets included the Iraqi Border Guard Forces, regular army elements, and units from the PMF.
"There is no cause for concern, fear, or any security threat,” Numan said, underlining the existence of “field coordination” accompanied by continuous “field meetings and information sharing.”
“Our security forces are at the highest state of readiness, our borders are fully secured, and our forces possess the full capability to protect Iraq's sovereignty and defend its territory against any aggression,” he added.
No proof from Saudis on attacks from Iraqi soil
With regards to the US-Saudi attack on PMF, the Iraqi government spokesperson said they have formed “technical committees to investigate and verify information from both sides.”
“Despite our conviction that no targeting of neighboring countries originated from the Iraqi side,” Numan said, “these committees are operating in the interest of transparency, assurance, and out of respect for the brotherly ties that bind us with Saudi Arabia, all Gulf nations, and neighboring states."
Washington and Riyadh conducted coordinated airstrikes on the PMF, killing 20 members of the group. Five members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were among those killed as well.
Saudi Arabia said the strikes were in response to earlier "reprehensible drone attacks carried out against the Kingdom by Iran-backed militias in Iraq," and reaffirmed "the Kingdom's determination to deter the perpetrators and its right to respond."
Numan noted that Riyadh “has not presented any evidence demonstrating that an aggression against them originated from Iraqi territory."
In early June, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered the formation of a committee to oversee the disengagement of political parties and armed factions from the PMF, amid a wider effort by the newly appointed premier to bring paramilitary groups and their arms under state control.
Kata’ib Hezbollah, along with Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, have refused to disarm. The factions are part of the Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI). They have cited the continued presence of foreign forces - namely those of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) - as justification for refusing to comply.
The coalition’s departure from Iraq is scheduled for September 30 - a date Zaidi set for completing the disarming of the armed groups.
The IRI overlaps with the PMF, which has been recognized as an official armed force by the Iraqi parliament since 2016.
Addressing the effort to restrict weapons to state control, the spokesperson stated: "This is a core principle being acted upon by the security forces and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,” stressing that Zaid's directives “are clear and explicit for all security forces to decisively confront any illegal attempt."
"For us, the matter is settled: weapons, as well as the authority to use force and launch military actions, rest exclusively in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief and official security institutions. No weapons or security decisions outside state authority and control will be permitted,” he added.
