Iraq, Jordan Reopen Border Crossing

Iraqi flags fly at the Iraqi Trebil border crossing on the Iraq-Jordan border on August 30, 2017. (AP)
Iraqi flags fly at the Iraqi Trebil border crossing on the Iraq-Jordan border on August 30, 2017. (AP)
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Iraq, Jordan Reopen Border Crossing

Iraqi flags fly at the Iraqi Trebil border crossing on the Iraq-Jordan border on August 30, 2017. (AP)
Iraqi flags fly at the Iraqi Trebil border crossing on the Iraq-Jordan border on August 30, 2017. (AP)

Iraq and Jordan have inaugurated a joint industrial area on the border between the neighboring countries.

The ceremony on the Iraq-Jordan border was attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and his Jordanian counterpart Omar Razzaz.

Saturday's meeting was also attended by top officials as the former neighbors boost their relations following the defeat of the ISIS terrorist group that controlled areas in Iraq bordering Jordan.

The border crossing was formally reopened Saturday.

As part of the agreement between the two countries that was signed in late December, Iraq will supply Jordan with oil a day at a lower price.

Under the deal, Iraq would sell 10,000 barrels per day of oil to Jordan at a special price, transported by tanker from its Kirkuk oilfields, the Jordanian prime minister’s office said in a statement. It did not say what the price was or when the oil would be exported.

Iraqi goods imported via Jordan’s Aqaba port on the Red Sea would meanwhile receive preferential tariffs, it said.

Aqaba port at the north end of the Red Sea has long been a major transit route for Iraqi imports and exports, and Amman has long relied on Iraqi crude to fuel its economy.

Razzaz’s office also said Jordan would begin to export electricity to Iraq within the next two years.

Abdul Mahdi says the government aims to decrease dependency on oil exports for state revenue. Oil exports from OPEC’s second-largest producer account for more than 95 percent of state revenues.

Furthermore, Abdul-Mahdi's office said Iraqi officials were handed 1,300 pieces of antiquities that Jordanian authorities confiscated from smugglers.



Israel Warns Lebanese against Returning to Area at Border

 This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
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Israel Warns Lebanese against Returning to Area at Border

 This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)
This picture taken from Lebanon's southern village of Shaqra on January 25, 2025 shows an Israeli army Merkava main battle tank moving along a road on the outskirts of the village of Mais al-Jabal along the border with Israel in south Lebanon. (AFP)

The Israeli army on Saturday warned residents of dozens of Lebanese villages near the border against returning until further notice, a day after Israel said its forces would remain in south Lebanon beyond a Sunday deadline for their departure.

A ceasefire that ended last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel stipulated that Israeli forces should withdraw as the Iran-backed group's weapons and fighters are removed from the south and the Lebanese army deploys. The deal, brokered by Washington and Paris, set a 60-day period which ends on Sunday.

But Israel said on Friday the terms had not been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, meaning Israeli troops would stay beyond Sunday, without saying for how long.

Lebanon's US-backed military on Saturday accused Israel of procrastinating in its withdrawal.

In a statement on social media platform X, the Israeli military posted a map showing an area of the south containing dozens of villages and reminding residents that until further notice they are forbidden from returning to their homes.

"Anyone who moves south of this line puts themselves in danger," the statement said.

The line stretches from Shebaa, less than 2 km (1.5 miles) from the border in the east, to Mansouri in the west - about 10 km (6 miles) from the border.

The ceasefire ended more than a year of hostilities which were triggered by the Gaza war and peaked in a major Israeli offensive against Hezbollah, which uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the group badly weakened.

The Israeli military says it has been seizing Hezbollah weapons and dismantling its infrastructure in the south.

The White House said on Friday that a short, temporary ceasefire extension was urgently needed.

French President Emmanuel Macron told his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun that he was making contacts to maintain the ceasefire and complete the implementation of the agreement, the Lebanese presidency said in a statement.

Aoun stressed to Macron the need to oblige Israel to implement the deal to preserve stability in the south.

Hezbollah, which suffered major blows in the war, said on Thursday that any delay of Israel's withdrawal would be an unacceptable breach of the deal and put the onus on the Lebanese state to act. Hezbollah said the Lebanese state would have to deal with such a violation "through all means and methods guaranteed by international charters".

Israel said its campaign against Hezbollah aimed to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced by Hezbollah rocket fire to leave their homes in northern Israel.

The Lebanese army, in a statement issued on Saturday, urged Lebanese residents to wait before heading into the border region, citing the presence of mines and unexploded Israeli ordnance.

The army said it had continued to implement the plan to strengthen its deployment south of the Litani River since the ceasefire came into effect.

"Delays occurred in a number of the phases as a result of procrastination in the withdrawal by the Israeli enemy, which complicated the mission of the army's deployment," the statement said. The army "maintains its readiness to complete its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws".