Popular crowd forces continued to advance within the western axis of the province of Nineveh, which is seeking to assert its rights and control over areas near the Iraqi – Syrian border in one of the most important military confrontations that will have political, military and security impact on the overall internal situation in Iraq and the regional situation surrounding it. Popular crowd fighters managed to reach the area of Iraqi Tanf next to the Syrian depth in the latest strategic field goal achieved by these forces since the beginning of confrontations with Daesh fighters within the areas of al-Jazeera and the Iraqi desert , which began in a quick confrontations in the center and the areas of the district of al-Hadar represented by the withdrawal of Daesh in a short period of time then progress towards the Kairouan area of the district of Sinjar, and tightens the domination and control over the surrounding villages and ports that lead to Qahtanite compound and the main roads linking it to the district of Baaj and these areas have its significance to the reality on the ground which we can Read it as follows:
1. The continuity of expansion of the Iranian project represented by the control on the political, security and military decision in Iraq and increase the pace of Iranian influence and its extension towards the Iraqi – Syrian border.
2. The presence of the Iranian advisers and officers from various military and security services and their supervision in the field on the movement of the popular crowd and draw field plans to ensure the success and completion of the Iranian project sought by Iranian political and intelligence circles and the announcement of the death of (Shaaban Nasiri) who is one of the advisers of Qassem Soleimani in the fights taking place in the area surrounding of Baaj district within the province of Nineveh, but a clear evidence for the Iranian participation and interest in the presence in the Iraqi – Syrian border area .
3.Awareness of US military command in Syrian territory of the seriousness of the Iranian presence in the Iraqi region (Tanf ), which is next to the Syrian border crossing (al-Waleed) after the advance of troops of the Syrian army, along with a number of Iranian militias who are fighting in defense of the Syrian political system and its attempt to reach al-Waleed crossing and seeking to find a state of contact and meeting with the fighters of popular crowd, which are present at the Iraqi Tanf area , so the US military leadership was quick to warn the advanced troops towards the al-Waleed crossing of the consequences of continuing military activities in conjunction with crowds of Iranian militias and demanded it to stop and not to go to al- Waleed border crossing through a number of threatening messages to escalate the US confrontation against it .
4. The insistence of the fighters of popular crowd to stay in the border areas that have been controlled by them within the area of the Iraqi- Syrian border so the military engineering of the popular crowd has initiated digging trenches and building barricades on the Iraqi-Syrian border, and began digging from the village (Um Jeris) located in the west of the district of Sinjar down towards the southern villages adjacent to the border between the two countries.
5. The operations of the advance are marked , carried out by elements of the popular crowd in the districts and neighborhoods of (al-Hadr- Kairouan – Adnaniyah – Qahtanite) and the surrounding villages , of non-participation of the aviation of coalition backed by the United States of America in the support of these operations but only the flying of the Iraqi Air Force and Army Aviation to provide support and backing to them, a position already taken by the command of the international coalition in the face of more than one confrontation in which the popular crowd fighters were one of its parties.
6. A clear delay to storm the center of the district of Tal Afar by the popular crowd fighters despite the blockade imposed on the outskirts of the district for more than 3 months due to political and regional reasons determined by Iraq ‘s relationship with the northern neighbor , Turkey , and the unwillingness of the Iraqi political and military leaders to find field and strategic problems on the military field after the threats issued by the Turkish political and military leaders to warn of its non-agreement to the entry of the popular crowd to the district of Tal Afar and fear of ethnic cleansing and demographic change that it is possible to affect Turkmen inside of Tal Afar and the civilian sacrifices to be taken place by (Sunni Turkmen) as it was expressed by Turks who are present in the center of the district of Tal Afar ,therefore the Iraqi military and security leaders are keen to wait and choose the right time to prepare the forces of the Iraqi army to storm the center of the district .
We would like to refer to an important topic with strategic analysis and the field horizon and perception preceded all the events that took place on the Iraqi-Syrian border in these days , in which the Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies tackled it when it referred in the mid of the year 2015 and at the beginning of 2016 to the Iranian expansion scheme in access to the area of Iraqi-Syrian border and identify the field road to be taken by armed militias linked to Iran ‘s security and intelligence organs and identified the places in accordance with the following sequence (center of Samarra – al-Alam area – Baiji district – the district of Shirqat – al-Hadar district – Tall Afar) and up to the border Between Syria and Iraq , in the article titled by (Tehran gives orders and Baghdad executes it ) on February 2, 2016.
Iraqi studies Unit
Rawabet Center for research and strategic studies