ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq on Tuesday said it has completed the installation of a border security barrier covering a distance of 200 kilometers with Iran equipped with security cameras, aimed at deterring smuggling and illegal crossings. Iraqi border guards “completed the installation of a 200-kilometer-long security barrier and installed more than 150 thermal cameras within the border with Iran,” state media reported, citing an interior ministry official. “The actions target smuggling operations and illegal crossings along the border strip between Iraq and Iran,” the official said, adding that inspection for the border strip was conducted within Wasit and Maysan provinces. In March, Iran and Iraq signed a border protection deal in which Baghdad agreed to a September 19 deadline to disarm Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan Region and secure the border regions. The Iranian military in July threatened to use military action if Baghdad fails to meet the deadline. On September 19, Iraq announced that it had complied with the terms of the joint security pact with Iran and disarmed the opposition groups on the Iraq-Iran border. Since the 1980s, the Iraq-Iran-Turkey triangle border has been plagued by conflict and instability. Tehran and Ankara have both fought Kurdish groups in these mountains. Some 500 villages have been emptied, farmlands and orchards destroyed, and civilians caught in the crossfire.
