ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq is eager to strengthen border security cooperation with the Syrian regime in Damascus after Islamic State (ISIS) fighters and their families who escaped camps in eastern Syria during the Turkish-led operation were caught trying to cross into Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi dispatched his National Security Adviser Faleh Fayadh to Damascus this week in an effort to bolster cooperation.
Turkey’s operation in Kurdish-controlled northern and eastern Syria was paused on Thursday night following a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.
However, at the height of the chaos, ISIS militants were able to break out of their makeshift prisons and their families abscond from camps, leading to fears the Turkish offensive could kick start an ISIS resurgence.
ISIS, which Iraq fought for nearly four years, continues to pose a grave threat, with regular insurgent attacks on its security forces and remote communities.
An Iraqi Ministry of Defense official told Rudaw on Thursday its security forces had captured a number of ISIS militants while trying to cross into Iraq.
Iraq has already stepped up security measures on its side of the shared border with Syria in a bid to prevent ISIS from infiltrating. National Security Advisor Fayadh was in Damascus on Thursday to meet with Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad, to discuss further improvements.
“President Assad receives Iraqi national security adviser Faleh Fayadh, who has a message from Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi,” Fayadh’s office said in a statement published on Facebook.
Syrian state media agency SANA published a regime statement on the meeting, which focused mainly on the border and counterterrorism.
“The message revolved around the means of the development of bilateral ties, elevating the existing coordination between the two sides to higher levels in all fields, whether in the counterterrorism field or the security of the border in light of recent developments,” read the Syrian side’s statement.
Along the same lines, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Iraq on Thursday to meet the Iraqi Prime Minister and the Kurdistan Region’s high ranking officials in part to discuss the situation in Syria and the fate of ISIS prisoners.
“Concerning the situation in Syria, there was extensive and wide discussions on what the two countries could do considering that France is a main partner in the International Coalition [against ISIS],” Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Ali Hakeem told a joint press conference with his French counterpart following their meeting.
“As such, French efforts are also aimed at resolving the crisis of terrorist fighters currently on Syrian soil and what will come about due to the present Turkish incursion into Syrian territory,” added Hakeem.
“Iraq pays great attention to what is happening on the Syrian field, especially near the Iraqi border, and the fleeing of terrorist fighters and their families to the Iraqi border [due to the Turkish operation],” said Hakeem.
The Iraqi minister also Iraq will take back all Iraqi ISIS fighters and their families in Syria, will not shirk responsibility for its citizens, and wants to give them a “fair trial” at home.
As for foreign ISIS fighters, their home countries need to take them back to prevent them from regrouping in Syria, he added.
The Iraqi minister said Baghdad supports the Syrian government taking control of the border and its soil, and that Iraq is trying to restore its membership of the Arab League.
Le-Drian said France stands on the side of Iraq in the achievements it has made against ISIS terror.
“We were partners in the fight against ISIS, and we have to be partners in the rebuilding phase and the new danger due to Turkey’s incursion into north and northeastern Syria,” added Le-Drian.
Le-Drian called for an urgent International Coalition meeting, adding there is a danger of ISIS resurgence in Iraq and Syria due to the Turkish operation.
The camps where ISIS families are kept and prisons where ISIS fighters are imprisoned need to be secured, added Le-Drian.
As though confirming fears of an ISIS resurgence, the jihadist group on Thursday announced it was able to take back some of its female affiliates from Kurdish custody on Wednesday.
“Fighters of the Islamic State yesterday freed a number of kidnapped female Muslims held by PKK members in one of their headquarters to the West of Raqqa,” ISIS announced via its Telegram channels, referring to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party’s (PKK) instead of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
ISIS did not disclose how many women it seized in the village it named al-Hamodouli, but claimed to have killed six members of the Kurdish-led forces.
