Last overland route closure chokes off Lebanon exports

BAR ELIAS, LEBANON — Lebanon’s land exports to Gulf markets have been choked off, leaving millions of dollars in goods stranded after the closure of a vital crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border last month.

The Nasib border point was the last remaining gateway for Lebanese truck drivers transporting agricultural and industrial products to Iraq and Gulf countries.

After Syrian rebels seized Nasib on April 1, these exports came to an abrupt halt.

“Exports by land have stopped entirely,” said Ahmad Alam, whose company exports Lebanese fruit and vegetables to Arab countries.

Goods transported overland made up 35% of all of Lebanon’s exports, economic analyst Nassib Ghobril told AFP.

The customs authorities say Lebanese exports to Gulf Cooperation Council states in 2014 amounted to $920 million. Another $256 million was exported to Iraq.

But all those potential exports are now effectively stuck in Lebanon, he said.

“The Nasib crossing was the only way for Lebanese products to be exported by land. Since it closed, there are no more land crossings now,” Mr. Ghobril said.

Before the Syrian crisis erupted in 2011, Lebanese products traveled frequently through Lebanon’s neighbor, then on to Iraq to the east or to Jordan and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf to the south.

The agriculture ministry says that agricultural products make up 6% of gross domestic product and 17% of total exports.

As Syria’s war worsened, its border crossings with Iraq closed, leaving Lebanese truckers with only one option: Nasib.

Omar al-Ali, head of Lebanon’s Refrigerated Truckers Syndicate, told AFP that about 250 trucks would cross from Lebanon into Syria every day before the conflict.

That number dropped to 120 daily because of growing instability along Syria’s major highways, and with Nasib closed, just a few trucks destined for the shrinking Syrian market only leave Lebanon every day. —