US Ambassador denies deploying reinforcements on Iraq-Syria border
The Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, and the US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski. Photo: Iraqi Foreign Ministry
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, said on Wednesday that the military movements of the US army were part of an operation to exchange forces in the region.
Romanowski denied that there was a relationship between the movements of the US forces and deploying reinforcements in Iraq, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
Romanowski’s statement followed a meeting with the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, where they discussed issues of common interest.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister and the US Ambassador discussed joint cooperation between Washington and Baghdad, the preparations for the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, which will be held in September, the situation in Syria, and the issue of the Al-Hol camp.
The Pentagon Press Secretary, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, denied during a press briefing in mid-August 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.
Earlier, a security source in Anbar governorate in western Iraq mentioned that planes carrying soldiers, advisors, and civilians arrived at Ain Al-Assad air base without knowing their numbers, Al-Maalomah News reported.
“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.