US denies deploying reinforcements on Iraq-Syria border
An aerial view of Pentagon headquarters. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Pentagon Press Secretary, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, denied during a press briefing on Monday that the United States has moved or deployed additional reinforcements on the Iraq-Syria border.
Ryder also denied that the US military has any plans to seal off the border or some points of entry along the border.
“We are not conducting any type of border security on the Iraq-Syria border. That’s the realm of the Iraqi government to take care of that, and I’m not aware of any additional deployment of US forces into the region,” Ryder added.
A security source in Anbar governorate in western Iraq mentioned that planes carrying soldiers, advisors and civilians arrived on Monday at Ain Al-Assad air base without knowing their numbers, Al-Maalomah News reported.
The source expected that these planes would carry American soldiers, advisors, experts and military equipment on board.
“Ain Al-Assad base witnessed an unusual movement of military transport aircraft that landed inside the air base with the US warplanes overflying the base to secure the arrival of these planes,” the source explained.
The US forces have tightened security protection measures at all their sites in the western regions of Iraq for precautionary reasons, the source added.