Syria News Wire

Syria and Iraq are discussing a UN presence along the contentious border. They want to create a buffer zone policed by UN troops.

The move comes after Syria and the US severed all intelligence co-operation. Iyad Alawi – Iraq’s former PM, and unoffical Iraqi envoy to Damascus – says Bashar has made positive sounds in response to the idea.

The US has been pressuring Syria for months about not policing the border effectively. But it raises the question – why isn’t the US policing their side of the Iraq-Syria border? Maybe because it’s such an expensive business – the US and EU recently agreed to provide funding for Syria to set up an effectively border police force – but Syria has complained that not a single dollar has yet been given.