Saudi widens buffer zone on Iraq border as threats mount

The restricted area was doubled to 20 kilometres 'due to some threats that may come from the north', said the kingdom’s border guard spokesman.

RIYADH // Saudi Arabia has widened a security buffer zone along its northern border with Iraq to ward off potential threats, a Saudi official said.

The restricted area was doubled to 20 kilometres “due to some threats that may come from the north,” the kingdom’s Border Guard spokesman Muhammad Al Ghamdi said on Wednesday in a phone interview, without identifying the risks. “That is why we added 10 kilometres to the buffer zone. This will help the Border Guards perform their mission.”

Saudi Arabia has deployed forces and boosted patrols along its 800-kilometre northern frontier since ISIL militants seized in June large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. Saudi forces want to prevent the conflict in Iraq, where both Iranian-backed Shiite militias and Sunni ISIL militants pose a threat to the kingdom, from spilling into the Arab world’s largest economy.

Saudi Arabia is participating in a US-led military campaign against ISIL, an Al Qaeda breakaway group, in Iraq and Syria, and is working with the US on regional security issues. Prince Miteb, minister of the National Guard and a son of King Abdullah, arrived in Washington this week for talks on Middle Eastern conflicts with president Barack Obama and senior US officials.

“The expansion of the northern security zone aims to prevent infiltration into the kingdom from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria,” Theodore Karasik, a senior analyst with Risk Insurance Management in Dubai. “They also want to mitigate any instability in the north of the country, where some individuals may support radical militant groups.”

Saudi Arabia has also tightened security along its southern border with Yemen, where advances by Shiite Houthi rebels and Al Qaeda militants are undermining president Abdurabu Mansur Hadi’s government. Saudi Arabia warned last month against any breach of its border after Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen seized a crossing point into the kingdom.

Both the Houthis and Al Qaeda have attacked the kingdom from Yemen in the past. A Saudi suspect in the killings of Shiite Muslims in the kingdom’s Eastern Province this month had spent time outside the country and crossed into Saudi Arabia over its southern border, according to officials.

“Everybody knows the situation around Saudi Arabia,” Mr Al Ghamdi said. “The last three to four years we have become more alert about the situation around the country.”

* Bloomberg News