PM visits forces in the area
Al-Sudani conducts aerial survey of Tharthar security corridor
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa’ Al-Sudani conducted an aerial survey of a stretch of the strategic Tharthar line on Monday, visiting security forces stationed in the region.
Stretching 108 kilometers from the desert in Salah Al-Din to Hatra in Nineveh, the Tharthar line is a vital security corridor for patrols and operations to counter ISIS remnants in Iraq’s vast western region. It is also serves as an important access route south towards Haditha, Anbar.
On the ground, Al-Sudani visited military units stationed in the area, stopping by the headquarters of the 1st Regiment, 91st Brigade of the 21st Division of the Iraqi Army, and the headquarters of the 44th Brigade of the Ansar Al-Marjaiya Brigade in Hatra.
Ansar Al-Marjaiya is one of the many groups that make up Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) that fought alongside the military and international coalition to defeat ISIS militants in the country.
The Tharthar line and other security belts are helping to fill surveillance gaps in the fight against armed groups and for general public safety in desolate areas where desert tourism has picked up in recent years. Forces launched a largescale operation to find a pair of missing tourists from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 2023, after they disappeared in Anbar’s desert region. The men’s bodies were later found by security units who determined they had struck an explosive hazard.
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