RABIAH (Iraq): At the Rabiah border post on the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, the final checkpoint for those entering Iraq is a shabby office in a small, dilapidated building used by the Iraqi authorities for passport control.

Some fear that along with the constant traffic of merchants and businessmen, foreign militants are entering Iraq here for attacks on US forces and international aid agencies.

The 480-kms frontier between Iraq and Syria has come under intensified scrutiny since US military officials blamed foreign fighters for a wave of suicide bombings in Baghdad last Monday. One attacker who was captured had a Syrian passport, and the following day US President George W. Bush called on Syria to enforce border controls to stop infiltrators.

Monitoring at the border post, which reopened on May 13, is rudimentary. Passport details are recorded by hand in tattered log-books, although officials are expecting computers soon.

“More than 400 people pass through this building in both directions every day. Most of those coming in are Syrians,” said Captain Abdul-Mutlahib Hashim of the Iraqi police, which handles the inspection of travel documents. “If their passports are in order they can go through.”

“No problems — the procedure is nice and easy,” said Syrian traveller Ibrahim Mahmoud, describing his transit over the border as his passport was stamped. “There are no queues here, and I don’t need a special visa.”

Mahmoud is the driver accompanying a Damascus-based merchant who trades used cars with dealers in Arbil. After presenting his Syrian passport and a driver’s licence he is allowed to continue on his journey, having successfully negotiated Syrian border control and a search by Iraqi customs officers.

COMPLEX PROBLEM: Officials at the Rabiah frontier crossing say the problem is more complex than lax border controls.

“How do you recognise a terrorist if he has proper documentation?” asked Mohammed Araak, the head of security for the Iraqi customs office at Rabiah.

“The difficulty is that many cross perfectly legally.”

Araak has a force of 75 agents who carry out rigorous searches on vehicles and luggage for weapons and contraband, as well as interviewing any travellers who arouse suspicion. The only people detained so far have been petty smugglers.

“In the past intelligence and security was very tight,” Araak said. “The Americans give us some information on suspects, but we can’t interrogate everybody. If there is to be an open border, things can’t be like before.”

The border was reopened by Major General David Petraeus, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division and de facto administrator of the northern sector of Iraq.

His soldiers recruited and trained a force of around 700 Iraqi border guards to help patrol the Syrian frontier along with local police and US troops.

Petraeus and his senior officers doubt that the stretch of the Syrian border lying in the division’s area of operations is being infiltrated illegally to a significant extent.

In the last two months Iraqi border guards have arrested more than 70 people trying to cross the border illegally, most of them smugglers of Syrian nationality.

FEARS OF INFILTRATION: But border guard officers suggest that foreign fighters might be crossing at official border points like Rabiah, where large numbers of people enter Iraq every day with relative ease.

“These fighters come into the country alone, and without guns or other weapons. There are elements inside Iraq loyal to Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda who are ready to receive people. It’s very well organised,” said Colonel Abdul Kerim, deputy director of the Rabiah border guards.

“If you really wanted to stop this completely, the only way would be to close the borders until the security situation gets better,” added his senior officer, Hamed Mohammed.

That would mean shutting down thriving cross-border trade.—Reuters