The Iraqi military is preparing for a major operation that is meant to officially seal off the Iraqi-Syrian border 'once and for all', Al-Masdar News reports.

Led by their Popular Mobilization Units (var. Hashd Al-Sha’abi), the Iraqi military has deployed a large number of personnel to the western countryside of the Al-Anbar Governorate.

The Iraqi military will attempt to clear all of the Islamic State’s (IS) sleeper cells around the Deir ez-Zor-Anbar axis, which would be a difficult task without cooperation from the Syrian Army and Kurdish-led forces.

According to local reports in Deir ez-Zor, the Iraqi military will be launching the operation in coordination with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), marking the first time during the war that either entity has worked together.