Border securitySaudi Arabia constructing 600-mile wall along its border with Iraq

Saudi Arabia has been busy since September busy building a 600-mile East-to-West barrier which will run along its Northern border with Iraq.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the primary purpose of the wall is to keep out Islamic State (ISIS) militants who have claimed that their goals are the eventual takeover of the holy cities of Mecca and Medinia.

Additionally, there are new skirmishes near the border, raising concerns. Just last week, a Saudi commander and two soldiers were killed by ISIS operatives in the first direct ground attack that has occurred in the area.

“It is the first attack by Islamic State itself against Saudi Arabia and is a clear message after Saudi Arabia entered the international coalition against it,” said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security analyst who was in contact with interior ministers in Saudi Arabia.

Referred to as the “Saudi Great Wall,” the barrier will feature both fencing and ditches, and utilize soft sand embankments designed to slow down approaching attackers. Further, the structure will feature forty watchtowers and seven separate command centers equipped with radar to detect aircraft and land vehicles from as far as twenty-two miles away. Units there will stand at readiness twenty-four hours a day.

The fencing will consist of a five-layer system with razor wire and underground motion sensors. Roughly 240 rapid response vehicles will be stationed their along with 30,000 patrol unites.

First proposed in 2006, the project was put on hold until the recent rise of the Islamic State, which has been in control of large sections of Iraqi territory. The July 2014 incident in which Iraqi border guards fled the coming ISIS attackers convinced Saudi government officials to push the project forward to construction.

The project is not the only one in the region. Israel currently operates a 455-mile long “Separation Barrier,” against terrorists, with a disclosed yearly operational cost of $260 million. The structure runs along the Green Line which separates the West Bank from Israel proper.

The Green Line is the cease-fire line established between Israel and its neighbors in 1949; the barrier follows, more or less, the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank, but in many places it has been built east of the 1949 lines in order to go around Jewish settlements Israel has built in the West Bank since 1967. In all, the barrier “adds” to Israel about 6 or 7 percent of the West Bank.

 The structure is controversial because it partially or completely surrounds some Palestinian communities, disrupting the movement of Palestinians, and denies access by Palestinians to their farm lands.

The Saudi wall is one of the latest tactics to thwart the expansion of ISIS, which seeks to unite the entire Levant, a region including land in Israel, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and Iraq. Many national military forces in the area have been on high alert since June of 2014.

The completion date for the Saudi Great Wall has not been announced.