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Jordan to reopen key Syria border crossing

Jaber-Nasib crossing will operate at full capacity as of Wednesday. (AFP/File)
Jaber-Nasib crossing will operate at full capacity as of Wednesday. (AFP/File)
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28 Sep 2021 05:09:07 GMT9
28 Sep 2021 05:09:07 GMT9
  • Jaber-Nasib crossing will operate at full capacity as of Wednesday

Raed Omari

AMMAN: Jordan will reopen a border crossing with Syria this week after it was closed nearly two months ago due to fighting in Syria’s southern province of Daraa.

Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said that the Jaber-Nasib crossing would operate at full capacity as of Wednesday after all technical and administrative arrangements were completed with the Syrian side.

In a statement carried by the Jordanian news agency, Petra, Al-Faraya added that the resumption of cargo and passenger movement through the Jaber-Nasib crossing, Jordan’s main gateway for goods from Lebanon and Syria to the Arab Gulf countries, is “aimed at stimulating trade exchange and tourism between the two brotherly countries.”

Jordan’s major trade route, located about 90 km north of Amman, was set to operate at full capacity from Aug. 1, but the decision was put on hold due to a surge in violence in Syria’s Daraa, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising.

In April 2015, Jordan closed its border crossing with Syria as a result of escalating violence in the Syrian bordering town of Nasib, which, at the time, was reportedly captured by the Syrian rebels and fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.

Also on Sunday, a high-level Syrian delegation, comprising ministers of foreign affairs, trade water, agriculture and electricity, met with their counterparts in Amman.

The two sides held “extended” talks on bolstering bilateral cooperation between the two countries, Petra reported.  

Jordan, which is home to about 650,000 registered Syrian refugees, has been showing high activism toward Syria recently, with observers arguing that Amman is adopting an “interest-centered” and “pragmatic” approach on war-hit Syria.

Syrian Defense Minister Ali Ayoub, who is also army chief, met in Amman on Sunday with Jordanian Chief of Staff Gen. Yousef Huneiti.

The two sides discussed wide-ranging topics, including border security, the situation in southern Syria, fighting terrorism and confronting narcotics smuggling.

The meeting, which observers described as the “culmination” of Jordan’s diplomacy on Syria, came after Syrian troops recaptured several rebel-held areas in Daraa province, near Jordan’s border, under a cease-fire deal brokered by Russia.

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