Iraqi PM: We will deal with Syrian regime, not militia groups, to close border
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he believes it is in his government’s interest to work with the Syrian regime rather than armed groups to close the Iraqi-Syrian border.
“It is in our interest to deal with the government in Syria and not with armed groups,” Abadi told a press conference in Baghdad this week, according to Iraq’s Almada Press.
Abadi noted that Iraq and Syria have a “common border” but neither side has been able to retake control of the “border points.”
ISIS infamously dismantled the Iraqi-Syrian border in the summer of 2014 after its takeover of Mosul. The Iraqi Army is currently fighting ISIS inside Mosul and hopes to force them completely from that city and Iraq in general. Afterward the border with Syria will likely be restored, an endeavor Abadi argues should be done in coordination with Damascus.
Aside from soldiers fighting ISIS in the contested eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, the Syrian regime has a limited number of forces in Syria’s west. ISIS was able to force the regime from the entirety of the province of Raqqa in August 2014 and the regime has been unable to reestablish itself there since.
The US is currently supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their offensive against ISIS in Raqqa. Since starting its air campaign against ISIS in Syria the US has stressed it will not work with the Syrian regime and instead relied on working with Kurdish militia forces against the ISIS militants.
“It is in our interest to deal with the government in Syria and not with armed groups,” Abadi told a press conference in Baghdad this week, according to Iraq’s Almada Press.
Abadi noted that Iraq and Syria have a “common border” but neither side has been able to retake control of the “border points.”
ISIS infamously dismantled the Iraqi-Syrian border in the summer of 2014 after its takeover of Mosul. The Iraqi Army is currently fighting ISIS inside Mosul and hopes to force them completely from that city and Iraq in general. Afterward the border with Syria will likely be restored, an endeavor Abadi argues should be done in coordination with Damascus.
Aside from soldiers fighting ISIS in the contested eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, the Syrian regime has a limited number of forces in Syria’s west. ISIS was able to force the regime from the entirety of the province of Raqqa in August 2014 and the regime has been unable to reestablish itself there since.
The US is currently supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their offensive against ISIS in Raqqa. Since starting its air campaign against ISIS in Syria the US has stressed it will not work with the Syrian regime and instead relied on working with Kurdish militia forces against the ISIS militants.