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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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Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)

Two French investigating magistrates have issued an arrest warrant against ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes, the second such move by France's judicial authorities, a source said on Tuesday.

Assad, who was ousted late last year in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, is held responsible in the warrant issued on Monday as "commander-in-chief of the armed forces" for a bombing in the Syrian city of Daraa in 2017 that killed a civilian, a source close to the case, asking not to be named, told AFP.

This mandate was issued as part of an investigation into the case of Salah Abou Nabout, a 59-year-old Franco-Syrian national and former French teacher, who was killed on June 7, 2017 following the bombing of his home by Syrian army helicopters.

The French judiciary considers that Assad ordered and provided the means for this attack, according to the source.

Six senior Syrian army officials are already the target of French arrest warrants over the case in an investigation that began in 2018.

"This case represents the culmination of a long fight for justice, in which I and my family believed from the start," said Omar Abou Nabout, the victim's son, in a statement.

He expressed hope that "a trial will take place and that the perpetrators will be arrested and judged, wherever they are".

French authorities in November 2023 issued a first arrest warrant against Assad over chemical attacks in 2013 where more than a thousand people, according to American intelligence, were killed by sarin gas.

While considering Assad's participation in these attacks "likely", public prosecutors last year issued an appeal against the warrant on the grounds that Assad should have immunity as a head of state.

However, his ouster has now changed his status and potential immunity. Assad and his family fled to Russia after his fall, according to Russian authorities.