Al-Sharqiya News TV, 7 Oct 2012 – Iraqi sources said US counselors have been charged with the responsibility of monitoring air travel over Iraq towards Syria. These counselors, along with US forces, arrived in Iraq last week and will intervene if necessary. These sources said the counselors cannot control all the flights over Iraqi airspace, yet they will conduct random inspections because it is not possible to bring down all airplanes and inspect each and every flight. Also, information received from inside Iran indicates the cargos of these flights are small. Iraqi military sources had said the number of US forces who entered Iraq last week was equivalent to a US Army division, and the dispatching of these sources took place at the request of the Iraqi government for security concerns regarding the possible downfall of the Syrian government.
In the mean time, Iran has threatened if planes heading towards Syria are inspected by Iraq, this country will retaliate by inspecting Iraqi airplanes.
The Iran news agency cited this country’s envoy in Iraq Hasan Danaii’far and wrote Tehran has warned Baghdad to  not repeat such downing of Iranian airplanes heading towards Syria and carrying out inspections, adding Iran considers such measures as breaching the signed agreements between the two countries. Danaii’far called on Iraqi government officials to not repeat such measures on Iran’s passenger flights, and not pay attention to US officials’ remarks about Iran transferring weapons to Syria.