Iraq to re-open borders

Baghdad: Iraq will re-open its borders with Iran and Syria, which were closed earlier this week in the early stages of a security crackdown, a spokesman for the officer overseeing the plan said on Saturday.

Brigadier Qassim Moussawi said, "Seventy-two hours have passed and the borders will gradually re-open, but it will take 60 days for the border crossings to return to normal."

It is not yet known exactly when the borders will be reopened, but Moussawi said the borders would be open for a limited number of hours each day, under close scrutiny.

He said the closure was mainly to allow for the smooth deployment of additional security forces in Baghdad, where US and Iraqi troops have stepped up an operation to try and restore order in the violent capital.

The US military had said the border checkpoints would be modified, partly to establish "transfer points" to search vehicles coming in.

US officials accuse Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross its long, porous border with Iraq, and last weekend presented evidence of what they said was Iranian-manufactured weapons being smuggled into Iraq.