ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has begun technical and engineering preparations to reopen the Rabia border crossing with Syria, more than a decade after it was closed amid the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), officials said on Wednesday.
The Iraqi Border Crossings Authority announced that reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts at the Rabia crossing in Nineveh province are now underway, following a directive from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani.
“Engineering staff in Nineveh province have begun the process of rehabilitating the crossing to reactivate its operations and strengthen trade exchange between Iraq and Syria,” Alaaldin al-Qaisi, spokesperson for the authority, told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Qaisi said the rehabilitation plan has “begun and includes preparing technical assessments, schedules for the crossing’s buildings, expanding trade exchange yards and transit routes for goods, installing weigh stations, and organizing truck traffic.”
He added that the measures are aimed at facilitating the movement of goods and travelers while boosting trade between the two neighboring countries.
The Rabia crossing, located about 120 kilometers west of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, has been closed since 2014 after ISIS militants seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territories.