Iraq: Most Syrian workers are undocumented

Shafaq News/ Iraq is working to regulate foreign labor, but Syrian workers have been excluded, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ahmed Al-Asadi, announced on Thursday.

“We have taken steps to correct the status of foreign workers, but Syrians have not benefited because they did not enter through official channels,” he explained in a televised interview.

Most Syrian workers, he noted, entered Iraq illegally, either through smuggling routes or from the Kurdistan Region, making up 80-90% of employees in Baghdad’s restaurants.

“The number of Arab and foreign workers in Iraq exceeds 800, 000,” Al-Asadi stated, stressing that Iraqi law requires employers to hire one Iraqi worker for every foreign worker.

A video recently circulated showing a masked group assaulting Syrian workers in Iraq. In response, the government announced it would pursue legal action against members of an armed faction identified in the video.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces have begun monitoring social media accounts and arresting Syrians accused of promoting terrorism, following a surge in violence along Syria’s coastal region. Security sources reported that authorities had also issued directives to scrutinize the records of all Syrians in Iraq, particularly those with expired residency permits