Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abd Al-Mahdi authorized the major Al Qaim crossing at the Syrian border to be opened on Monday, a representative of the Iraqi border crossing authority said Saturday.
“Prime Minister Adil Abd Al-Mahdi agreed to open Al Qaim checkpoint at the Syrian border on Monday, 30 September”, Alaeddin Qaisi said, quoted by the Alsumaria broadcaster.
Al Qaim, also referred to as Al Bukamal (Al Bukamal-Qa’im) Al-Qa’im, located in the western province of Anbar, was one of the last liberated areas during the Iraqi military operation against the Daesh terrorist group in 2017.
On the Syrian side it connects with the Al Bukamal border crossing point in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor and is controlled from the Syrian side of the border.
There are currently three crossings at the Iraqi-Syrian border: Rabia, also referred to as Al-Yarubiyah, located in Syria’s Al Hasakah province controlled by Kurdish-led forces and the At Tanf crossing located in an area controlled by US forces in Syria.
Crossings at the Iraq-Syrian border have not been fully operational since 2014 when Daesh seized vast territories of both countries.
Since then, both Syria and Iraq have regained most of their territories from the terrorists.
In April, the Iraqi mliitary attempted to re-open the checkpoint, an agreement on how to monitir the traffic on the Iraqi-Syrian border at this crossing was reportedly postponed.
In November 2018, Syrian Transport Minister Ali Hammoud said Damascus was ready to open crossings at the Iraqi border and saw no threats to existing border security. Hammoud said Syria would expect Iraq to settle their share of logistics issues at the crossing.
