Syria has sent 3,000 troops to the border with Iraq to deter infiltration by pro-Iran Iraqi militias, two security officials in Damascus have told The National.
The deployment is the first in the area by the new authorities since Bashar Al Assad was thrown out of office last December and his military disbanded. On Saturday, Syrian fighters skirmished with the Iranian-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces – Hashd Al Shaabi – a day after the aerial war between Israel and Iran broke out, officials said.
An Iraqi source dismissed any likelihood of militia movements between Iraq and Syria.
Infantry and drone units have been arriving at the border from the central region of Palmyra since Monday, one official said. Units were also sent from Euphrates River Valley areas that form a frontline controlled by the US-backed, mostly Kurdish, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the most powerful militia in Syria outside the control of the government.
“We are asserting our control over the border,” a Syrian official said, describing the area as susceptible to instability, adding that the border was mainly manned by police because the threat before the outbreak of conflict was not considered to be great.
Saturday's fight, he said, was brief and intended to “remind us how close to us Iran is”.
Syria, a mostly Sunni country, is ruled by a government created from Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an umbrella group of anti-Assad militias that once had links with al Qaeda. The government is opposed to Shiite militias in Iraq who enforce Iranian influence. However, Baghdad and Damascus have taken steps to improve relations in the past two months.
The Iraqi source who dismissed concerns about militia movements from Iraq into Syria, a security official, said that “Syrians have not expressed any such concerns or notified us of any deployments for their troops”.
He suggested that the purpose of Syrian troop movement to the border is to put pressure on the SDF. He said the SDF clashed on Saturday with Syrian security forces near the Al Bukamal border crossing between Iraq and Syria, which was recently opened.
“It's not easy for militias to cross the border to Syria now either through the official border crossings or through unofficial ones,” the source said.
He added that the presence of the Syrian army, the US-led coalition, and Israel would be likely to deter any such attempts at Syrian borders.
The source also spoke about security co-operation between Iraq and Syria, particularly at the borders. “We have several understandings and co-operation with the Syrian side mainly for controlling and securing the borders,” he said.
Syria has played a part in the Iran-Israeli conflict. US troops, who are mainly based in east Syria, have fired on Iranian drones aimed at Israel through Syrian airspace, regional sources said.
Most of the US bases in Syria are in SDF controlled areas, within a 60 kilometres of the border with Iraq. However, most of the border is under the control of Damascus.
Iraqi militias launched drone and missile attacks against US forces stationed in Syria during the 13-year civil war.
After the outbreak of the conflict on Friday, Iraq’s most powerful militia leaders said their forces would enter the conflict only if US troops based in Iraq intervened on Israel's behalf. However, one militia said on Monday that it will attack Israel and “anyone who supports it” in Iraq and the broader region.
Syria has been one of few countries in the Middle East that have not condemned the Israeli attack. Strengthening Damascus as a bulwark against Iran and possibly drawing the country into the Abraham Accords were the main reasons the US began normalisating relations with Damascus last month, US officials said.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, it is no longer easy for militias to cross the border to Syria, because they would face hostile local forces, as well as the US and Israeli air power, the Iraqi source said.
The Iraqi militias were a main component of Iranian backing for Mr Al Assad's regime between 2011 and 2024, but they withdrew when Hayat Tahrir Al Sham forces rolled on Damascus in December.
Pointing out new “understandings and security co-operation with the Syrian side”, the official said “militias have no foothold in Syria any more and we don't think they even think about it now.”
