Iraqi government closes Rabea border point with Syria

The Iraqi government closed the Rabea border point with Syria, and the Iraqi minister of interior Bayan Jabber announced in a statement he will not permit from now on any of the carriers, including trains, to pass except those who have a permit from the ministry of interior. He also prevented persons not living in the area from entering it, and imposed curfew from the beginning of night until dawn.

The Iraqi defense minister Sadoun al-Duleimi stressed in a joint press conference with the prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Saturday stressed the speedy operation which he said will not last more than 3 days. He indicated that the detainees are citizens from Arab states who sneaked to the city from outside the border.

Al-Duleimi threatened Samera and al-Ramadi and Rawa of similar military attacks after the completion of TelAfer military operation which seeks to expel or capture gunmen. He said that "the plans to invade Tel-Afer were laid three months ago and this was after the failure of all peaceful attempts to get the terrorist out of the positions they are hiding in that city," as he alleged.

The Muslim Scholar Commission described the attack on Tel-Afer as a sectarian hatred that the governor should alienate himself from. A statement for the commission called on all "of a religion or a conscience to put an end to the state terrorism."

While the Iraqi and American forces continue their operations in north Iraq, the American warplanes in west Iraq launched raids destroying what was alleged by the American army to be a shelter for one leader of al-Qaida organization near the Syrian borders.