Iraq and Syria open border crossing closed since 2012
Daesh sleeper cells still blamed for deadly attacks on both sides of border
Iraq and Syria have opened a key border crossing between the two neighboring countries, seven years after it was closed during Syria’s civil war and the battle against Daesh.
The opening of the crossing linking the Iraqi town of Qaim and Syria’s Boukamal is expected to strengthen trade between the two Arab countries.
But it is also a boost to Iran’s influence in the region, allowing Iran-backed militias in Iraq easier access to eastern Syria at a time of soaring tensions in the region between Tehran and Washington following the collapse of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
The area has been a point of friction between US-backed Kurdish fighters, and Syrian regime troops and their Iranian-backed allies. In a symbolic gesture, Assad’s Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khaled Rahmoun, accompanied by regime troops, crossed onto the Iraqi side of the border, where troops from both countries hugged and took selfies. Scores of Iraqis and Syrians who live in the border towns also attended the ceremony.
“The opening of this border crossing is the result of victories achieved by our people in Syria and Iraq against terrorist organizations,” Rahmoun said.
The Boukamal crossing was closed in 2012 as insurgents fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad seized large parts of eastern Syria.
Qaim and Boukamal were then controlled by Daesh until 2017, when Syrian and Iraqi troops captured the towns from the extremists. The group’s territorial defeat was announced in Syria earlier this year.
Kadhim Mohammed, who represented Iraq’s prime minister at the ceremony, said the opening of the border “opens a new page that represents reconstruction.”
The border brings further relief to Assad’s regime after border crossings with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights manned by UN peacekeepers were reopened last year. After eight years of war, Assad has recaptured most of the country from the opposition, and there is growing support within the Arab League for Damascus’ readmission.
Iraqi authorities had set up tents for Monday’s ceremony amid tight security, with troops deployed around the crossing. Despite their official defeat, Daesh sleeper cells are still blamed for deadly attacks on both sides of the border.
“The opening of Boukamal-Qaim crossing is a victory for Syrian and Iraqi friendship against terrorism,” read a banner placed on the Syrian side of the border.
The group once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq where its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared a so-called caliphate in 2014.