Daily Times

Jordan fully reopened its main border crossing with Syria on Wednesday in a boost for their struggling economies following a push by Arab states to reintegrate a country they have shunned during its decade-long civil war. Syria, which blames Western sanctions for its economic woes, hopes wider business links with its southern neighbor will help it recover from a devastating war and attract much-needed foreign currency. “The aim of these understandings is to boost trade exchange between the two countries to achieve the interests of every party,” Jordan’s minister of industry and trade, Maha Al Ali, told state-owned Al Mamlaka television. Officials in Jordan, a close US ally, and Lebanon have urged Washington to ease sanctions on Syria to facilitate trade. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt – another close US ally – this month reached agreement for Egyptian natural gas to be sent to Lebanon via Syria using a pipeline built some 20 years ago in an Arab cooperation project. Arab states cut ties with Syria during its civil war, which the United Nations has said claimed at least 350,209 lives. US-allied Arab states including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates backed opposition groups fighting President Bashar Assad for years but Damascus was able to crush the rebels with military backing from Russia and Iran.