Iraq–Syria border
The Iraqi–Syrian border runs for a total length of 599 km[1] across Upper Mesopotamia and the Syrian desert. It was defined in the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1922), drawn across of what had been designated the A zone in the Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916. It was the border between the Syrian Republic and the Kingdom of Iraq until 1958, and since 1961 the border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Iraq.
The border passes across Upper Mesopotamia, beginning at the Iraqi-Syrian-Turkish tripoint on the Tigris river at 37°06′22″N 42°21′26″E / 37.1060°N 42.3572°E. The border more or less follows the former border between the Ottoman Mosul and Diyarbekir vilayets. The Rabia border crossing is on the Al-Shaddadah–Mosul road. The border crosses the Euphrates just north of the Al-Qa'im border crossing between Al-Bukamal in Syria and Al Qa'im in Iraq. From the Euphrates, the border cuts across the part of the Syrian desert (the former Zor sanjak) to the Iraqi-Syrian-Jordanian tripoint at 33°22′29″N 38°47′37″E / 33.3747°N 38.7936°E. The border crossing between Al Waleed in Iraq and Al Tanf in Syria is a short distance north-east of the tripoint, and there are Palestinian refugee camps on both sides, the Al-Waleed camp and the Al Tanf camp.
In the ongoing wars in Iraq and Syria, much of the border fell under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in June 2014, although its northernmost portion remains under Kurdish control, forming the border between Rojava and Iraqi Kurdistan. The Semalka border crossing is a pontoon bridge across the Tigris established by the Kurdistan Regional Government during the Syrian Civil War about 1 km downstream from the Iraqi-Syrian-Turkish tripoint and just north of Faysh Khabur in Iraq.
See also
References
- Kathy Gilsinan, The Many Ways to Map the Islamic 'State', The Atlantic, 27 August 2014.