By Anas al-Bar | 2025-09-06

Iraqi and US-led coalition forces are conducting precision operations and reinforcing defenses along Iraq's border with Syria in a transnational effort to block terrorist infiltration and safeguard stability.

The raids against the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) are frequently guided by Iraqi intelligence and carried out with coalition firepower, according to Iraqi officials and media reports.

They have dismantled extremist cells and severed key leadership links.

On August 21, the US military announced the killing of a senior ISIS financier, describing him as a member with ties across the group's network who had planned attacks in Iraq and Syria.

Media outlets identified him as Salah Numan al-Jubouri, an Iraqi national who served as treasurer for ISIS's Iraq province and oversaw extortion operations and drone procurement.

He was killed in northern Syria during a US raid conducted with direct support from the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), Shafaq News reported.

In July, another Iraqi ISIS official, Dhiyaa al-Hardani, was killed in a US raid inside Syria.

Iraqi CTS said the operation relied on its units' intensive intelligence and described him as a top-tier leader who had previously overseen ISIS's Euphrates province and later its al-Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor provinces.

Together, these raids dealt a heavy blow to ISIS's Iraqi leadership.

Fortifying the frontier

Military experts told Al-Fassel the raids are being paired with strong, lasting defenses.

In recent months, Iraq has reinforced its western border with thousands of troops, new watchtowers and advanced surveillance equipment.

A Shafaq News report detailed the construction of a 160-kilometer steel-reinforced concrete wall in high-risk sectors, along with more than 200 thermal cameras and 30 observation towers.

Drone patrols have also been deployed to cover remote desert terrain.

Maj. Gen. Tahseen al-Khafaji, media director at Iraq's Ministry of defense, told Al-Fassel that the country is deploying "maximum military and logistical efforts to secure our borders."

He said CTS units and other security forces share responsibility and continue to coordinate with coalition partners in targeting ISIS hideouts.

"We are focusing on strengthening defenses, setting ambushes and reinforcing defensive lines to close gaps and monitor infiltration attempts," he added.

Security expert Mukhlid Hazem al-Darib described the system on the Iraq-Syria border as a "three-layer surveillance," combining ground troops with aerial reconnaissance and real-time movement tracking.

He pointed to both enhanced defenses and what he called a broad "societal rejection" of extremism as key deterrents, according to Shafaq News.

The experts agree that ISIS is being steadily degraded, its leadership decapitated, and its safe havens dismantled.

They said stability depends on relentless raids against ISIS leaders combined with permanent border defenses.

Coalition support, they maintain, remains essential to Iraq's continuing success.