Iraqi PM agrees to reopen Qaim border crossing with Syria
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi agreed to re-open Al Qaim crossing at the Syrian border.
The crossing will be reopened for travellers and trade, INA reported on Friday, citing Iraq’s border agency chief.
The western Anbar province town of Qaim, 300 km (185 miles) west of Baghdad, was recaptured from Islamic State in November 2017 and was the group’s last bastion in Iraq to fall.
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 ISIS 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.
Iraq’s government recently called for the reinstatement of Syria’s membership of the Arab League, which was suspended in 2011 over its crackdown on protesters at the start of the civil war.
