Qatar, Saudi Arabia Resume Trade Through Abusamra Border Crossing

Commercial traffic resumed at Qatar’s Abusamra crossing with Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Commercial traffic resumed at Qatar’s Abusamra crossing with Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Qatar, Saudi Arabia Resume Trade Through Abusamra Border Crossing

Commercial traffic resumed at Qatar’s Abusamra crossing with Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Commercial traffic resumed at Qatar’s Abusamra crossing with Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Qatari General Authority of Customs announced Wednesday the resumption of commercial traffic through the Abusamra border crossing with Saudi Arabia

The cargo movement at the port will be carried out in accordance with a number of terms and procedures.

The scheduled maintenance work at Abusamra will start during the second quarter of 2021 for 14 months.

The Authority issued a statement announcing several regulatory and precautionary controls for transiting goods from the Salwa border port in Saudi Arabia to the Abu Samra border port.

The Authority announced that truck drivers coming from Salwa border port in Saudi Arabia must obtain a certificate authenticated by the Saudi Ministry of Health, proving that they have been tested for coronavirus, 72 hours prior to the date of entry into Abusamra port.

Otherwise, drivers and trucks transporting goods through Abusamra will not be permitted to enter the country, and the goods will be unloaded and re-loaded onto local trucks by the importer or his representative in the port.

The authority stipulated the return of tucks and drivers to Salwa port in Saudi Arabia immediately after the completion of the unloading process in Abusamra port.

Specialized laboratories to test goods were transferred to other locations, announced by the Authority, indicating that samples will be taken for examination and analysis by the competent authorities.

Goods of a dangerous nature will be kept at the port until the results of the examination and laboratory analysis are released.

All exporters of goods through Abusamara port to Salwa port shall comply with the instructions issued by Saudi Customs before proceeding to export or re-export the goods, to avoid any delay or rejection of the goods upon arrival at Salwa port.

Goods exported or re-exported from Qatar are transported by local trucks through Abusamara port to Salwa port, as determined by the Saudi authorities.

Saudi Arabia resumed relations with Qatar, ending a years-long boycott, during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) AlUla Summit last January.



US Did Not Have Advance Warning of Israeli Strike in Beirut, Pentagon Says

 People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)
People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Did Not Have Advance Warning of Israeli Strike in Beirut, Pentagon Says

 People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)
People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)

The United States had no advance warning of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart as the operation was ongoing, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Friday.

"The United States was not involved in this operation and we had no advanced warning," spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Singh declined to say what Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Austin about the operation and whether it targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Pentagon also declined to speculate on whether the Hezbollah leader was still alive.

Austin and Gallant spoke as the Pentagon chief flew over the Atlantic after a visit to London.

Asked what Austin may have communicated to Gallant given the Israeli strike's potential impact on US efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Singh declined to offer specifics, but she said the defense secretary is always frank in his conversations with his Israeli counterpart.

"Look at just the engagements that the secretary and Minister Gallant have had over the last two weeks, speaking regularly. I think if there was any type of fracture in trust, you wouldn't see those type of levels of calls and engagements occurring frequently," Singh said when asked if the lack of advance notification by Israel indicated a lack of trust.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah's central headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday in an attack that shook the Lebanese capital and sent thick clouds of smoke over the city.

The news outlet Axios cited an Israeli source as saying Nasrallah was the target of the strike and that the Israeli military was checking if he was hit.

A source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive, while Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking his status.