Maliki Says Iraq Taking Steps to Secure Syria Border
Iraq is taking measures to secure its border with Syria against weapons smuggling and the unauthorized movement of people, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office said in a statement on Saturday.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has been carrying out a bloody crackdown on an uprising in which human rights groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed since March 2011.
Iraq's interior minister said in an interview with Agence France Presse that jihadists are moving from Iraq to Syria and arms are also being smuggled across the border to opponents of Assad's regime.
Maliki headed a meeting on border security attended by high-ranking security officials on Saturday, focusing on "how to work on closing all the gaps that terrorists and some criminal gangs are sneaking through," the statement on his office's website said.
"The necessary procedures were taken to reinforce control over the border with Syria, which is witnessing events and turbulence" that lead to infiltration attempts and "all kinds of smuggling, including weapons."
It was decided to establish a committee to oversee the border and present a full evaluation and plan for procedures that should be taken "to prevent any movement on this border, especially smuggling weapons."
Source: Agence France Presse
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