As a result of the secret 1916 Anglo-French Sykes-Picot Agreement Britain gained control of the Ottoman Vilayets of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra, which it organised into the mandate of Iraq in 1920.

[3] In the meantime Ibn Saud had managed to expand his domains considerably, eventually proclaiming the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

[8] The Gulf War seriously strained relations between the two countries; Iraq fired scud missiles into Saudi territory and also breached the Kuwait–Saudi Arabia border.

[10] The proposed fence would run for approximately 900 kilometres (560 mi) along Saudi Arabia's isolated northern desert border with Iraq.

It would supplement the existing 7-meter-high sand berm that runs along the border, in front of which there is an 8-km stretch of no-mans-land which is regularly swept smooth so that trespassers can be tracked.