Nouri al-Maliki claims US troop movement to Syrian-Iraqi border seeks 'to topple regime'

Nouri al-Maliki, the head of the State of Law coalition, and other Iran-backed Shia militia leaders in Iraq claim that the aim behind the United States military manoeuvres to seal off the Iraq-Syria border is to topple the Syrian regime.

Nouri al-Maliki, the head of the State of Law coalition, made these claims on Monday, 28 August, but he also ruled out the possibility that the Biden administration might be planning a "regime change" in Iraq.

"We have a belief based on proof that movements by the US forces in western Iraq seem to be aimed at sealing off the Iraq-Syrian borders," Maliki claimed to Iraq's Al-Sharqiya channel in an interview aired on Monday night.

He added that while the West had imposed aerial, land, and sea blockade on the Syrian regime, it could "resist" the embargoes via border crossings with Iraq and therefore, the US aims "to tighten the embargo" on the Syrian government and "incite demonstrations" to topple the Syrian regime.

Maliki was Iraq's prime minister for two successive terms from 2006 until 2014, when the Islamic State (IS) group conquered a third of Iraq. He also claimed that the US forces did not consult the Iraqi government concerning its plans to seal off the Iraq-Syrian borders.

For the 5 day consecutive day, we continue until the regime falls and the Nazi Russia is expelled from our land.
Glory to Great Syria.#great_syrian_revolution #FREESYRIA #sweidaa pic.twitter.com/OQYlAwmhzb

— Nedal Al-Amari (@nedalalamari) August 24, 2023

"Coalition service members from the 10th Mountain Division replaced service members from the Ohio Army National Guard, as part of a planned replacement of forces in support of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve over the past month," the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) announced on 17 August. "These operations are standard and routine, conducted in a planned, deliberate manner, and carefully coordinated with security partners. During a relief in place, movements of troops, vehicles, and equipment are taking place into and out of Iraq."

The Iran-backed Shia groups in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, known as the "Axis of Resistance," view the US  forces as direct threats against them.

Head of the "Asaib Ahl Al-Haq", Qais Khazali, recently echoed Maliki's statements in an interview with Iraq's state media. 

Similarly, Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon's powerful Shia Muslim armed group Hezbollah, warned on Tuesday that his organisation would not let the US close the Iraq-Syria borders without elaborating further. 

"The recent US movements basically aim at cutting the way among Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as preventing Iran from sending weapons to the Syrian regime, Hezbollah, and even the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas (which controls the Gaza Strip)," the political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari, who heads the Iraqi Political Thinking Center in Baghdad, told The New Arab.

Cutting the route by the US might be within the process of tightening the noose against the Syrian regime to change its conduct and then moving forward towards a transitional stage," al-Shammari added. 

He indicated that the US tightening pressure against the Assad regime coincides with anti-government demonstrations in the southern Syrian city of Suweida and the neighbouring Daraa province.

Shammari stressed, "It is also part of a US cold war with the Russian presence in Syria. If the Assad regime collapses, it would have significant consequences in the area and Iraq, and we could see the regulation of conditions via a new transitional political process."