Thread by @WIRED

Border walls are inherently divisive. The US is learning this the hard way, and Iraq and Syria are grappling with one of their own. We went there to see how, while a border fence is keeping people safe from ISIS, it’s tearing communities apart 1/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

This is the wall—or, more accurately— the fence separating the two countries. It’s about 43 miles long, roughly 10 feet tall, and flimsy enough that it bucks and rattles in the wind. A guard tower is located every few hundred feet 2/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

ISIS used to hold its caliphate just beyond the Syria border. Even though the fence mostly succeeded in keeping ISIS out of Iraq while cornering it in Syria, it has bred new divisions between the people here 3/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

Villagers living along the border here used to travel freely between Iraq and Syria, but that’s no longer the case. Collaboration between the two countries on the wall itself has cooled—now, anything on either side is the respective country’s problem 4/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

This is evident in Al-Qaim—an Iraqi town occupied by ISIS until November 2017. It’s divided between the Iraqi forces that liberated it and Iran-backed Shi’te militias. Both sides want control, and neither is willing to cooperate 5/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

Soldiers disagree over who patrols what part of the border and where. All the while, the fence prevents trade from cities just on the other side of the fence. Commerce into and through the Al-Qaim remains scant 6/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

On the other side, the Syrian city of Hajin is mostly rubble. Residential buildings stand like skeletons. Craters from bomb blasts and artillery strikes are obstacles around which vehicles swerve, causing the road to swerve as well 7/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

Even though they’re now divided, both sides of the Iraq/Syria wall look similar. Both are destroyed and new divisions roil the region. As with every wall, the question remains: Is the price of some safety worth its consequences? 8/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

To truly understand the complexities of the Syria/Iraq border wall, our writer traveled more than 900 miles and stayed in multiple cities in both countries. Read the full story of life along the fence here: 9/ wired.trib.al/6wavzkl

Reporting and videos by @kenneth_rosen and photographs by @andreadicenzo.

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