Syria and Lebanon agree to accelerate trucks passing on borders

Syria and Lebanon have reached to an agreement on Wednesday to facilitate efficient truck border crossing, and Syria's customs director says the subject is getting undue attention in the press.

The accord called to open al-Arida crossing point to trucks going to Lebanon and carrying phosphate, stones and sands from 7 a.m. till midnight, in addition to trucks normally passing from the same crossing point.

It was also agreed to extend hours of work at Dabousiyeh customs secretariat from 6 a.m. until midnight. This will allow passage of trucks coming from Lebanon into Syria and vice versa.

The accord would go into effect today till the end August when the extension would be automatically made in cooperation between the two sides.

Director of the Syrian customs Basel Sannoufa hoped in a statement to SANA that the media coverage of "the subject of borders overcrowding not be overdone more than it bears, because it is simply a technical issue, and the joint customs committees members reflect the point."

"Inspection operations of trucks coming from Lebanon have divulged more than one smuggling case that has not been restricted to weapons only, but rather to all kinds of smuggling, and these are done by criminal smuggling networks," he said.

Sannoufa voiced conviction that the procedures adopted would help in solving the border traffic jams in a short time, particularly as coordination is continuing on daily basis with the Lebanese side.

The joint customs committees which held a meeting today in Damascus agreed to continue communication and coordination on daily basis between the two administrations and officials form the border secretariats to solve problems, and said there is going to be a joint meeting in the first week of next September to follow up the issue.

Secretary General of the Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council Nasri el-Khouri said today's meetings would contribute in a decisive way to easing passage between the two states and in a way that ends the technical issues that caused the problems. Khouri denied any political dimension to the issue of trucks' movement along Syrian-Lebanese borders.