"Business" militias: millions of dollars of smuggling between Iraq and Syria

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[size=52]"Business" militias: millions of dollars of smuggling between Iraq and Syria[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad, Anbar - Salam Jaf, Mohammed Ali
[size=45]Seeing trucks parked on the international road west of Anbar, at Qaim town, is no longer an indication of malfunctioning of a truck, or of drivers eating or praying as before. .[/size]
[size=45]Large smuggling networks have recently emerged between the two countries, after the liberation of Iraqi territory from the grip of ISIS, and the presence of the latter on the opposite side of the border.[/size]
[size=45]Here, trucks smuggling vegetables, cigarettes, medicines, sheep and electrical appliances, in addition to "goods" of another kind, such as transformers and wires of electricity that are being stolen from Iraq and transported to Syria or for example iron covers for sewage or car engines… Other than gasoline and gas oil tanks, which It is smuggled through the border within the province of Anbar, which corresponds to the Bu Kamal area from the Syrian side.[/size]
[size=45]This particular point has become the most active for smugglers' work, in comparison with the second half of the common border, specifically between Nineveh on the one hand and Hassakeh and Deir ez-Zor on the other, where Syrian Kurdish factions share with the PKK militants and other militias in Nineveh a "smuggling party" as described A senior Iraqi official in Baghdad, and added that "the government suffers from this file and unable to control it."[/size]
[size=45]Huge revenue[/size]
[size=45]“During July, at least $ 5 million worth of goods were smuggled across the border, many from Iraq to Syria, not vice versa. More seriously, many items are stolen, such as gasoline, gas oil, cooking gas bottles, power transformers and wires, sewage hoods, and drugs that are supposed to be given free or at a nominal price subsidized by the state through health centers and hospitals.[/size]
[size=45]The official, who asked not to be named, confirmed to Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that the smuggling operations were carried out through armed militias known for their close ties with Iran, most notably the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, the Al-Tofouf Brigade, the Sayyid Al-Shuhada and the Nujaba militias. The smuggling is carried out through the so-called “crushers,” a place where trucks cross through a hole with barbed wire separating the two countries and dirt mounds placed in place of the old ones washed away by ISIS in 2014.[/size]
[size=45]Local officials and a police officer in the city of Al-Qaim (350 km west of Iraq), which borders Syria, also spoke of two types of smuggling carried out with Syria. And electrical materials.[/size]
[size=45]Another type of smuggling is via networks that pay between $ 500 and $ 3,500 for the truck, depending on its load. The truck or car does not complete its way in any of the territories of the two countries, where after crossing the border in the Iraqi or Syrian part, similar trucks are found through which goods are exchanged in exchange for receiving the money, which is in dollars and not in any of the two local currencies in Iraq or Syria.[/size]
[size=45]Covering the militias[/size]
[size=45]Capt. Salmani, a police officer from the city of Qaim and a member of one of the tribes of the city of great influence, asked not to be named explicitly, and told the "new Arab", that the smuggled materials from Iraq more than those smuggled from Syria, and there is nothing as a ladder everything is smuggled even Clothing.[/size]
[size=45]He added that “the revenue of smuggling is estimated at millions of dollars a month, and there is no officer or security commander capable of stopping these operations, especially as those carried out by militias strong and linked to Iran” and the story of Anbar operations chief Major General Mahmoud al-Falahi, who tried to stop smuggling, is still present in the minds, Army commanders have since avoided clashing with militias.[/size]
[size=45]The militia of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades accused the army commander in Anbar, Major General Mahmoud al-Falahi, of communicating with the US intelligence and providing them with the coordinates of their positions. Military commission of inquiry.[/size]
[size=45]Different goods[/size]
[size=45]However, Abu Hassan, a truck driver in Qaim, confirmed the occurrence of these operations, noting that many truck drivers consider smuggling a job. The driver explained that there are those who cross the border where his fee is higher, while some transport the goods to exchange only with other trucks, without crossing the border, and these wages are certainly lower.[/size]
[size=45]“When drivers place their phone numbers on their trucks in prominent places, their aim is not to network with girls, but to be contacted by smugglers, and thus to expand their customers,” he said. The driver confirmed that the smuggling operations are carried out from areas under the control of armed factions, which are met by Syrian regime forces, as well as in the border area of ​​Al-Tanf.[/size]
[size=45]Talal al-Zobaie, a member of the Iraqi parliament, admitted in an interview to the "new Arab", the existence of smuggling operations between Iraq and Syria across the border, saying: "Major smuggling operations are taking place between the two countries. “This is a dangerous phenomenon that the government must urgently remedy. These operations may allow the financing of ISIS, other outlaws or armed actors, and the government should intervene to stop them urgently. ”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "there are a lot of materials that are smuggled between the two countries, and there are influential actors on the border financing themselves from these illegal operations."[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, MP Hussein al-Oqabi, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to "assume full constitutional and legal responsibilities with respect to the preservation of Iraq's funds and the imposition of state sovereignty and law at the border."[/size]
[size=45]"Unfortunately, some of the smuggling operations have a political aspect and some have a regional and international side for regional and international interests," he said. "Some operations are also carried out by corrupt elements inside Iraq who are willing to burn the country for their own interests." This was due to "disregard for the application of the law and non-compliance with it".[/size]
[size=45]"It is with great regret that we see laziness and lethargy by the government in enforcing the law, eradicating corruption and prosecuting and throwing corrupt people in prisons," he said.[/size]


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