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Jordan Partially Reopens Border Posts with Syria, Saudi Arabia

Vehicles arrive at the Jaber border crossing between Jordan and Syria (Nassib crossing on the Syrian side) in the Jordanian Mafraq governorate in 2018. (AFP)
Vehicles arrive at the Jaber border crossing between Jordan and Syria (Nassib crossing on the Syrian side) in the Jordanian Mafraq governorate in 2018. (AFP)
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Jordan Partially Reopens Border Posts with Syria, Saudi Arabia

Vehicles arrive at the Jaber border crossing between Jordan and Syria (Nassib crossing on the Syrian side) in the Jordanian Mafraq governorate in 2018. (AFP)
Vehicles arrive at the Jaber border crossing between Jordan and Syria (Nassib crossing on the Syrian side) in the Jordanian Mafraq governorate in 2018. (AFP)

Jordan reopened Monday two border posts closed nine months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic -- one with Saudi Arabia, the other with Syria -- the interior ministry said.

But there are strict limits on the numbers allowed in each day and travelers are required to be in possession of a negative PCR test, before taking an additional test upon arrival in Jordan.

Two hundred people per day will be allowed in from Saudi Arabia through the Al-Omari post, and 150 people from Syria through the Jaber crossing, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Jordanian authorities had closed the two posts in August, after staff became infected with coronavirus.

The Jaber post -- called Nassib on the Syrian side -- had only reopened in 2018 after being closed for several years due to Syria's war.

Jordan has recorded a reduction in its coronavirus caseload in recent weeks.

On Monday, it detected 1,272 new cases and 28 deaths, down from 9,269 and around 110 deaths on March 22.

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Arab World

Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

The Israeli army said it fired at vehicles in Syria loaded with weapons near a buffer zone established under a 1974 agreement between Syria and Israel.
The strike in the town of Ghadir al-Bustan in Quneitra province killed three people, including two members of Syria's Military Operations Administration, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Military Operations Administration is run Syria’s de facto leadership under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which did not comment on the attack. The attack coincided with Syrian security operations to search homes for weapons, according to the war monitor.
The Israeli military said they located vehicles carrying weapons and “fired a warning shot adjacent to the vehicles, and the vehicles drove away from the area.” Asked about casualties, the Israeli military said it had no information, reported The Associated Press.
Israeli forces captured the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights following former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fall last month. The military has been also conducting incursions outside the buffer zone, prompting local protests.