Iraq has deployed up to 30,000 forces on the country’s western border shared with Syria amid fears that Islamic State could enter from Syria in a repeat of its 2014 offensive.
According to sources in the Iraqi military have confirmed that Two Iraqi Army brigades, each with 3,000 to 5,000 troops, have been redeployed to border areas over the past two days in order to prevent extremist fighters crossing over.
Additionally, Shiite Muslim militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), announced that 20,000 fighters have been redeployed to the same border. The increased military presence along the Syrian border is after intelligence reports revealed that some Syrian border villages had fallen under the control of ISIS.
Many areas of Syria and Iraq were only recently liberated from ISIS control, although Iraq’s western province of Anbar is still home to many of the group’s militants. However, reports have warned that ISIS may appear to have been defeated but they have decentralized and are mounting attacks in different havens across the globe and as such comprehensive operations are important to deter a recurrence of 2014.
