AL QAIM, Iraq - Syrian refugees squeeze against a closed gate at an Iraqi border post, reaching through its metal bars to clamour for water, and calling out to Iraqi cousins and brothers on the other side. Yelling into their cellphones, more Syrians perch on top of the concrete walls that divide Iraq from Syria, waiting for Iraqis to unload trucks filled with boxes of cooking oil and bottled water and hoist them over the al Qaim checkpoint. Close by, predominantly Sunni Syrian rebels are fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces over the town of Albu Kamal, bringing the war to al Qaim with refugees, Syrian jets and occasional rocket attacks. Al Qaim, in the Sunni heartland of Anbar province, reflects the tricky balancing act Iraq's Shi'ite leaders face in Syria, whose crisis is testing the Middle East's sectarian divide. Many Shi'ite politicians took refuge in Syria during the rule of Saddam Hussein, and Assad, who is Alawite, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, is backed by Shi'ite Iran while Sunni power Saudi Arabia supports the rebels. Iraq's leaders dismiss claims they support Assad, but they also fear a nightmare scenario: his downfall brings a hostile Sunni Muslim regime to power and emboldens disenchanted Sunnis in Iraq's own fragile sectarian mix. In Anbar, where tribal ties are strong, discontent over Baghdad's stance on the Syrian crisis is growing. Many have already chosen their side. "When you have cousins here, it is a matter just of luck whether they are Iraqi or Syrian," said Emad Hammoud, a government worker in al Qaim. "In Syria, it's a fight of a government against its people, and we are with the people." Al Qaim and its neighbouring Syrian counterpart Albu Kamal are on a strategic supply route for smugglers, gun-runners and now insurgents aiming to join the rebellion. Just a few years ago the traffic went the other way: Sunni Islamist bombers crossed into Iraq to fight against the American occupation and refugees fled to Syria to avoid sectarian slaughter. Though still wary of Islamist insurgents, Baghdad's Shi'ite-led central government initially opened the border to Syria's refugees after the conflict started 18 months ago. But Albu Kamal has since been overrun by anti-Assad Free Syrian Army rebels and the number of refugees has grown, prompting authorities to lock al Qaim's crossing. Army brigades now reinforce the frontier, marked by 2-metre metal fence. Iraqi residents send food, water and medical supplies to pass over the gate at al Qaim, where around 200 to 300 Syrian refugees arrive daily seeking shelter or supplies from relatives before heading back home. "This is not help from the state, this is from clerics and from the people," said one local Iraqi government official at the crossing, who was not authorised by Baghdad to speak publicly about the refugees. After Saddam fell in 2003, many members of his outlawed Baath party fled into Syria. Baghdad often criticised Damascus for sheltering al Qaeda, Sunni insurgents and former Baathists who used Syria as a haven to attack American troops in Iraq.
