Since the end of World War I, the very nature of the porous borders of the Middle East has remained a clear geopolitical threat to the powers that sought to control the region. The porous nature of these young political frontiers has existed throughout the history of the Middle East as a fundamental symptom of tribal and smuggling routes, even before the movement of Arabs from modern day Saudi Arabia. When analyzing the 450-mile border that divides Iraq from Syria, several realities on the ground need to be understood. One of the clearest threats that exists for US forces stationed within Iraq is how the porous border situation provides active sanctuary for insurgents who can crisscross the border. Tactically, the existence of porous borders allows insurgent forces not to have to rely on critical bases of operation within Iraq itself which stand a higher chance of being discovered and destroyed by US military forces. Thus, the weak border areas between Syria and Iraq become an issue for US efforts to contain the many actors of the Iraqi insurgency. That being said, however, the Syrian-Iraqi border is only one facet of a greater problem that entails all of the political borders of Iraq. Nonetheless, it has gained continual attention by both policy and military leaders in their efforts to curb the momentum of the Iraqi insurgency of late. It is important to analyze four components of the border problem and how they relate to the security situation for both US forces and the Ba'athist and Alawite regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Much more at link |