Saudi Arabia builds northern border fence against infiltrators

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Agence France-Presse

A military truck belonging to the Saudi border guards force patrols near a fence on Saudi Arabia's northern borderline with Iraq, in this July 14, 2014 file photo. REUTERS Photo

Saudi Arabia has inaugurated a multilayered fence along its northern borders, as part of efforts to secure the kingdom's vast desert frontiers against infiltrators and smugglers, state media said.    
 
King Abdullah announced late Friday the launch of the first stage of a border security programme, covering 900 kilometres of the northern frontier, SPA state news agency reported.
      
SPA did not name Iraq, Saudi Arabia's neighbour to the north, referring only to the northern frontier, but the two countries' common border stretches over 800 kilometres.
      
The project includes five layers of fencing which will cut the "number of infiltrators, drug, arms and cattle smugglers to zero," SPA said.
      
It said surveillance would be reinforced by watch towers, night-vision cameras and 50 radars.
      
Control complexes have been built in areas stretching from Hafr al-Batin in the northeast to Turaif near the Jordanian border, SPA said.
      
Relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia have been deeply strained.         

Riyadh has accused outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of creating the conditions for the jihadist insurgency in his country by marginalising its Sunni Arab minority.
      
Maliki in turn has accused the oil-rich kingdom of supporting "terrorism" in Shiite-majority Iraq.
      
In July 2009, Riyadh signed a deal with European aerospace and defence contractors EADS to build a high-tech security fence on 9,000 kilometres (5,600 miles) of the country's borders.
      
The original aim was to secure the Saudi border with Iraq with fencing and high-tech monitoring.
      
But with increased worries over infiltration by anti-government militants and Al-Qaeda, the Saudi interior ministry expanded the scope of the programme to fence and electronically monitor all the country's borders.