ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s interior ministry on Tuesday denied reports claiming that they had granted “temporary residence” to soldiers and officials of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian army, who sought asylum in Iraq after the regime’s fall in December.

“We deny this news completely,” Miqdad Miri, spokesperson for the Iraqi interior ministry, said in a statement in regard to the reports circulating on social media suggesting that Iraqi government authorities have granted “temporary residence for humanitarian reasons” to “dozens of officers and leaders of the ousted Syrian regime.”

The spokesperson stressed the importance of obtaining information from official sources and “avoiding malicious rumors.”

“We also confirm that the Iraqi Ministry of Interior has not taken any action regarding granting residency for any reason to officers and leaders of the former Syrian army, as some are trying to promote,” he added.

A security source told The New Region in December that some 3,500 Syrian soldiers crossed into Iraq through the al-Qaim border crossing on the final days of the Assad regime, and handed over their weapons to Iraqi military forces.

Nearly two weeks after the regime collapsed, Miri announced that Iraqi authorities have begun repatriating the soldiers upon the request of the new administration in Damascus.

An 11-day sweeping rebel offensive spearheaded by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham brought a five-decade-long rule of the Assad family to an end on December 8.

The Iraqi government, closely aligned with Iran, supported Assad’s regime, and has been hesitant in establishing ties with the new authorities in Syria.