Iraqi forces seize 30 border posts in Syria

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Iraqi forces carried out cross-border operations for the first time inside Syria and seized up to 30 border posts, local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The operations were conducted after the extremist ISIL group seized positions of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the Syrian side near the border with Iraq, the independent al-Mada newspaper quoted an anonymous source as saying.

"Iraqi forces seized a total of 30 border posts inside Syria, some of the posts located some 50 meters from the border, which were all fortified with concrete barriers," the newspaper said.

"There is no order yet for the Iraqi forces to advance further than the border posts," the newspaper added.

On October 26, ISIL militants made a surprise advance in eastern Syria when they seized positions of SDF on the Syrian side near the border with Iraq.

Their advance in Syria raised concerns in Iraq that ISIL militants could infiltrate into Iraq to make use of ISIL hideouts in the desert and rugged areas in the center of the country, pushing the Iraqi army, border guards and Hashd Shaabi brigades to dispatch reinforcements to block the borderline in front of the areas seized by ISIL inside Syria.

(Cover image: Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are pictured in the village of Susah in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, near the Syrian border with Iraq on September 13, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency