Jordan Border Crossing With Iraq to Reopen

Jordan will open its main border crossing with Iraq on Wednesday for the first time since 2015, now that Iraqi forces have gained control of the main highway to Baghdad from the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, both governments said.

Iraqi troops pulled out of the Tureibil post, on the 180 km (110 mile) border, in summer 2014 after the militants secured nearly all the official crossings of the western frontier as they swept through a third of the country, Reuters reported.

Commercial traffic continued for a year after until Iraq launched an offensive in July 2015 to reclaim the Anbar Province and deprive the militants of funds raised from truck drivers forced to pay a tax on cargo coming in from Jordan.

Tureibil was to open on Wednesday after the road was secured “from attacks and criminal gangs,” the Iraqi and Jordanian governments said in a joint statement.

Officials have said that customs and border arrangements have been finalized, with security measures in place to ensure the 550 km highway from the border to Baghdad was safe.

“The opening of the crossing is of great importance to Jordan and Iraq ... It’s a crucial artery. Jordan and Iraq have been discussing reopening it for a while,” Jordanian Interior Minister Ghaleb al Zubi said last week.

Several trade and business officials had said they had been invited to an event on Wednesday to mark the reopening that would include senior Jordanian and Iraqi officials.

Since last year, the Iraqi army has regained most of Anbar Province’s main towns that fell to the extremist group.

Iraq has also been working on securing the highway that connects Iraq’s Basra port in the south to Jordan, where the Red Sea port of Aqaba has long served as a gateway for Iraqi imports coming from Europe.

Although the highway has been secured after driving out the militants, the threat of hit-and-run attacks on convoys and the army are ever present, according to security experts.

There have been several attacks by militants near al-Rutba town, the last town before the border with Jordan.

A senior western diplomat said Iraqi authorities have awarded a contract to a US security company that will employ a local force to secure the highway. The source gave no further details.