Jordan resumes reopens main border crossing with Syria, resumes flight to Damascus

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kingdom of Jordan reopened its border crossing with Syria on Wednesday and will resume direct flights to the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday.  

On Wednesday, Jordan reopened the Jaber border crossing with Syria. The move was seen as a way “to boost the countries’ struggling economies and reinforce a push by Arab states to reintegrate Syria after shunning it during its civil war,” Reuters reported.

According to Jordanian officials, a Syrian delegate of ministers will soon visit the kingdom to discuss removing tariff barriers.

Jordan previously reopened the Jaber crossing in 2018 but had to close it again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In another sign of improving ties, Jordan’s national airline, Royal Jordanian, will resume direct flights to Damascus on Sunday for the first time in almost a decade. According to Jordan’s Petra news agency, the decision was made after two days of ministerial meetings in Amman. During those meetings, Jordanian and Syrian officials discussed revitalizing cooperation in various areas, from agriculture and energy to trade and transport.

Royal Jordanian suspended its flights to Damascus and Aleppo back in 2012 as the Syrian conflict grew lethally violent.

Both these moves also come less than two weeks after Syrian Defense Minister and Chief of Staff Ali Ayyoub traveled to Jordan to discuss stability on the international border between the two countries. That visit was also the first of its kind since the start of the Syrian conflict.