Lebanon’s director general for land and maritime transport, Ahmad Tamer, said talks are underway with Syria over its recent decision to bar non-Syrian trucks carrying goods destined for the Syrian market from entering Syrian territory.
Speaking to France 24 on Tuesday evening, February 10, Tamer said Lebanon is awaiting a meeting with the Syrian side to reach solutions.
He described the issue as “a matter of time,” adding that the problem is internal and not aimed at Lebanon or its relations with Syria, but rather at addressing problems on other borders.
Tamer pointed to daily trade between Lebanon and Syria, including ports, production centers, and agricultural exchange, stressing that all of this is affected and that anything disrupting supply chains and commercial movement has consequences.
Syria is Lebanon’s only land export gateway for transporting goods, especially to Gulf countries, he added, noting that 500 Lebanese trucks cross into Syria every day.
Calls for reciprocal treatment
Syria’s decision has raised concerns in Lebanon’s transport sector. Representatives of transport unions and associations warned of added operational burdens, higher costs, and negative repercussions for the sector and for trade between the two countries, France 24 reported.
They rejected placing additional burdens on Lebanon’s land transport sector resulting from unilateral measures, following a meeting they held at the Transport Directorate, according to the channel.
The union representatives also called on Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport to take measures to protect the sector, including adopting a reciprocity principle in regulating the entry of Syrian trucks into Lebanon.
Jordan awaits Syria’s response
Jordan is also holding talks with Syria, said Mohammad al-Dwairi, the official spokesperson for Jordan’s Ministry of Transport, adding that Amman is awaiting Syria’s response on allowing foreign trucks to enter and transit.
In remarks to France 24, al-Dwairi said Jordanian trucks are unloading their cargo in the free zone at the Nasib crossing with Syria (southern Syria, Daraa governorate), despite some disruption. He added that 250 Jordanian trucks used to enter Syria daily.
Deifallah Abu Aqoula, head of Jordan’s Association of Customs Clearance and Freight Transport Companies, said the decision to bar non-Syrian trucks from entering through land crossings was “surprising,” and requires a reciprocal transport mechanism at the shared border for trucks heading directly to Syria, whether Jordanian or otherwise.
Speaking to CNN Arabic on February 8, Abu Aqoula said the decision disrupted commercial transport movement and would have major negative repercussions, particularly for Jordanian exports.
Syria’s General Authority for Land and Sea Ports decided not to allow non-Syrian trucks to enter Syrian territory through land border crossings. Instead, goods are to be transferred between Syrian and non-Syrian trucks within the customs yard at each crossing (al-Tabbun), in line with approved procedures.
In its February 6 decision, the authority exempted transit trucks, provided customs police escort them between entry and exit points under applicable procedures, in an effort to regulate freight and transport movement through land border crossings and seaports, according to the text of the decision.
Abu Aqoula said the previous procedure allowed “door-to-door” delivery inside Syria, whether goods came from Gulf countries or from Aqaba Port, which helped facilitate faster, more efficient trade.
Impact of the decision, delays for 500 trucks daily
Abu Aqoula said the new mechanism requires unloading cargo at the Jordan Syria border and transferring it to Syrian trucks that complete delivery to the final destination, a “back-to-back” process that “creates congestion and major delays due to weak Syrian infrastructure,” as he put it.
He said about 500 trucks head daily from Jordan and Gulf countries to Syria, and that applying the reciprocal transport system could delay trucks for up to two weeks, with additional costs for owners.
“This decision is disastrous for the sector because it will directly affect Jordanian exports and cause a loss of the competitive advantage shipments via Aqaba Port offer in terms of time and cost,” he said.
The decision applies to trucks headed directly to the Syrian market, and does not affect transit shipments passing to Turkey and Lebanon.
Abu Aqoula added that the problem lies with trucks that used to unload their cargo inside Syria, forcing owners to wait at the border due to weak infrastructure, resulting in added costs and significant delays. He said the new system could push some shipments to reroute from Aqaba to Latakia Port.
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