Report: US Preventing Jordan from Reopening Nasib Passageway

The Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper reported that reopening of Nasib passageway is still under question and it is still closed despite the Syrian transportation ministry’s declaration of its reopening.

It quoted informed sources as saying that Jordan takes orders from the US and is dragging feet to reopen the border-crossing, trying to blame the Syrian government for the delay.

They added that Nasib is an important economic route for Jordan and the country wants to reopen it but it cannot resist against the US dictations.

Almost 7,000 trucks were using Nasib border-crossing to transfer cargoes before Syria’s crisis in 2011.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said last month that Jordan was working out some technical details to reopen border with Syria.

 “In principle, we want to open borders. A technical committee is meeting right now to agree details that will allow us to open borders,” Safadi said.

Safadi also said that Jordan was not responsible for closing the border; however, due to the ongoing war in Syria, the crossings no longer became safe.

No timeline was given for reopening the border, but it is likely to happen in the next two months, as both Damascus and ‘Amman are anxious to resume trade and commerce between the two capitals.