US commander gives part credit to Syria for military gains in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The number of foreign combatants with Al-Qaeda ties in Iraq is down markedly in recent months, top US commander David Petraeus said in an interview published Wednesday, thanks largely to "more robust" interdiction efforts by Syria.

"We have a formula to estimate how many foreign fighters come in a month. We think there's been a reduction by a third or maybe more than that," Petraeus told The Wall Street Journal.

"In general, the intelligence is that we have seen a reduction in that flow," he said.

In the past, the United States has accused Damascus of failing to do enough to stem the flow of foreign fighters across its shared border with Iraq.

Now however, although the US general attributed the reduction to "no single factor," he credited efforts by Damascus in large part.

"There does appear to have been more robust action by Syria against some foreign fighter networks," said Petraeus, who cited efforts "to make it harder for military-age males to travel from a city to Damascus on a one-way airticket."

Petraeus said Syria also has moved "to tighten the border ports of entry to Iraq, to look at traditional smuggling routes."

Those inroads, among other factors, have helped brighten US prospects of subduing the stubborn Al-Qaeda-fed insurgency in Iraq.

While the terror network "remains a very significant element of the security situation in Iraq ... it is a threat that has been diminished over the past six to eight months in particular," Petraeus told the Wall Street Journal.
AFP

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