Iraq’s PMU Forces Reach Syrian Border
Local Editor
Iraq's Popular Mobilization Unit [PMU] forces had reached the border with Syria Monday after securing a string of small villages west of Mosul, according to a spokesman for the group.
The move follows a push by the government-sanctioned forces to retake a number of small villages and key supply lines from the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] in the vast deserts west of Mosul. Iraq's conventional military has focused on clearing the city itself, a slow, grinding process in dense urban terrain packed with tens of thousands of civilians.
The PMU forces began Monday's operation by pushing Daesh militants out of the center of the town of Baaj, some 40 km from the Syrian border, according to lawmaker Karim al-Nouri.
The fighters plan to "erect a dirt barricade and dig a trench" along the border, said Sheikh Sami al-Masoudi, a Popular Mobilization leader, describing how the forces would secure the porous border area that has long been a haven for smugglers and insurgent activity.
Masoudi described Baaj as the last Daesh supply line between Syria and Iraq in the area and said the PMU forces reached the border by retaking the village of Umm Jrais.
Iraq's army, federal police and Special Forces launched the operation to retake Mosul last October with close backing from the US-led international coalition. The city's eastern half was declared liberated in January, and the push for the city's western section, separated from the east by the Tigris River, began the following month.
Meanwhile, PMU forces had largely operated in the desert to the west of Mosul, retaking small villages and cutting Daesh supply lines since October.
After securing the border area, Iraq's PMU forces are ready to move inside Syrian territories, according to Hashim al-Mousawi, a leader with the powerful al-Nujaba group, a part of the alliance.
But Mousawi added such a move would require the approval of the Iraqi government.
On the Syrian side of the border, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, Daesh militants and Syrian armed groups are fighting for territory. The Syrian Army and allied forces had also been on the offensive, moving toward the Iraqi and Jordanian border but are still far from reaching it.
On May 18, a US airstrike hit Syrian forces that the US-led coalition said posed a threat to American troops and allied militants operating near the border with Jordan. The attack was the first such close confrontation between American troops and Syrian forces.
Syrian activists said leaflets were dropped Sunday on advancing Syrian soldiers and their allies, warning them to stay away from the border crossing of Tanf. "Any movements toward Tanf will be considered hostile and we will defend our forces," the coalition leaflet read.
Monday, more airstrikes and artillery shelling hit Raqqa, the de facto capital of Daesh, activists said.
Airstrikes had intensified over the past days as US-backed SDF militants had pushed on toward the stronghold, now nearly surrounding it from the north, west and east. The extremists still have an exit from the south, even though the US-led coalition destroyed two bridges on the Euphrates River south of Raqqa.
Daesh has been preventing people from leaving Raqqa and many fear that residents will be used as human shields when SDF begin marching in the city that has been occupied by Daesh since January 2014.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
