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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)
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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.

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Arab World

Israel's Top General Resigns over Oct. 7 Failures

File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)
File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)
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Israel's Top General Resigns over Oct. 7 Failures

File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)
File Photo: A solidarity rally for Israeli hostages with Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday (AFP)

Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday he would resign on March 6, taking responsibility for the massive security lapse on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas gunmen from Gaza carried out a cross-border attack on Israel.

Halevi, who had been widely expected to step down in the wake of the deadliest single day in Israel's history, said he would complete the Israel Defense Forces' inquiries into Oct. 7 and strengthen the IDF's readiness for security challenges. It was not immediately clear who would replace Halevi, who said he would transfer the IDF command to a yet-to-be-named successor.

Despite public anger over Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has resisted calls to open a state inquiry into its own responsibility for the security breach that resulted in 1,200 Israelis killed and about 250 hostages taken.

"On the morning of Oct. 7, the IDF failed in its mission to protect the citizens of Israel," Halevi wrote in his resignation letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Israel, he added, paid a heavy price in terms of human lives and those kidnapped and wounded in "body and soul."

"My responsibility for the terrible failure accompanies me every day, hour by hour, and will do so for the rest of my life," said Halevi, a military veteran of four decades.

Halevi was in lockstep with former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who was fired by Netanyahu in November, and at loggerheads with some ministers over military conscription exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students.

A number of senior military officers have already resigned over the failures of Oct. 7, and the head of the military's Southern Command, Major-General Yaron Finkelman, also announced he would be resigning.

After 15 months of war in Gaza, the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Hamas went into effect on Sunday, with three hostages being released among a planned 33 in the next six weeks. Some 94 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza, though some may have since died in captivity.

HARDLINERS RAPPED HALEVI'S CONDUCT OF GAZA WAR

Katz thanked Halevi for his contributions to the military and that he would continue to fulfill his duties until a successor is named, while there would be an orderly search for his replacement. Netanyahu also accepted Halevi's resignation.

Halevi was often criticized by hardliners in Netanyahu's government including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said his conduct of the war in Gaza was too soft.

More than 46,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict since October 2023 and the heavily built-up territory has been widely demolished by Israeli bombardments and airstrikes.

Smotrich on Tuesday praised Halevi for the military's success in shattering Hamas' military capabilities during the war but also put blame on his shoulders for the Oct. 7 debacle.

"My criticism of his failure in the campaign to eliminate Hamas' civilian and governmental capabilities, as well as his responsibility for the October 7th failure, does not diminish the great gratitude we owe him for all his work and contributions over the years and his achievements," said Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

"The coming period will be marked by the replacement of the senior military command as part of preparations for the renewal of the war, this time in the West Bank until complete victory."

Halevi said that despite the failings of Oct. 7, Israel had notched many military achievements since then which had "changed the Middle East".  

He pointed to Israel's military degradation of Hamas that had created conditions for returning hostages, its "unprecedented" damage inflicted on Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, a significantly weakened Iran, and its destruction of significant parts of Syria's military.