BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Iraq and Syria signed on Sunday a memorandum of understanding for security cooperation in various areas, including combating terrorism.
The deal focuses on combating drug trafficking, border control, extradition of wanted persons, and combating organized crimes and money laundering, Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari said at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Mohammad Khaled al-Rahmoun in Baghdad.
"There is good intelligence cooperation between Iraq and Syria," al-Shammari said, adding that the two countries managed to bust some drug-trafficking networks and seize numerous narcotics in previous joint operations.
For his part, al-Rahmoun said the two sides also held talks on the security situation "as we both suffered from terrorism in our countries," adding that "in addition, there are still crimes committed by human and drug trafficking gangs, so we signed a deal on security cooperation."
He noted that Iraq has achieved great success in eliminating Islamic State (IS) strongholds, stressing that there is still a need for cooperation in this field since "IS holdouts in Syria carry out attacks from time to time." ■
