DAMASCUS: Syria's transport ministry said Saturday its main border crossing with Jordan would reopen to trade next month for the first time in three years, but Amman said consultations were still ongoing.
The ministry had announced on Saturday morning that the Nassib crossing, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side, was functional.
It clarified in an afternoon statement carried by state news agency SANA that authorities had "completed logistical preparations to reopen the Nasib border crossing with Jordan on October 10".
Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghneimat said Saturday the "Jaber-Nassib crossing remains closed," and no goods or travellers had passed through.
"The technical meetings to open the border are ongoing. Reopening it requires infrastructure, as well as logistical and technical standards, to be in place," state media quoted her as saying.
Government troops retook the Syrian side of the crossing in July under a deal with rebel fighters brokered by Damascus ally Moscow.
It had been sealed completely since rebels overran it in April 2015, choking off one of the most important trade routes for the government.
The crossing was a key link not only for direct trade between the neighbouring countries but also for longer-distance transit trade between Lebanon and the Gulf which was a signficant source of revenue.
Earlier this week, Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis said all necessary steps had been completed to reopen the crossing, with investment in new infrastructure to be paid for by a sharp hike in duties.
"This crossing will be invested in according to our national interest. The customs fees were amended to achieve the interests of the Syrian state, increased from $10 to $62 for a four-tonne truck," Khamis said.
Despite retaking swathes of territory in successive Russian-backed offensives this year, Damascus still controls only half of the 19 crossings along Syria's lengthy borders with Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
Syria says trade crossing with Jordan to open next month
Syria says trade crossing with Jordan to open next month
- Syrian government reopened the major Nassib border crossing with Jordan
- Jordan denied the announcement by Syria
Israel agrees to ‘limited reopening’ of Rafah crossing: PM’s office
- The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israel said Monday it would allow a “limited reopening” of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt once it had recovered the remains of the last hostage in the Palestinian territory.
The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza.
Reopening Rafah forms part of a Gaza truce framework announced by US President Donald Trump in October, but the crossing has remained closed after Israeli forces took control of it during the war.
The Israeli military also said it was searching a cemetery in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the remains of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, a non-commissioned officer in the police’s elite Yassam unit.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the reopening would depend on “the return of all living hostages and a 100 percent effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said on X.
It said Israel’s military was “currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return” Gvili’s body.
“Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah Crossing,” it said.
