Shafaq News- Damascus

Syria’s port of Tartus on Thursday received an Iraq-bound timber shipment from Romania, marking the first international transit convoy to cross Syrian territory toward Iraq in over 14 years.

Mazen Alloush, director of public relations at Syria’s General Authority for Borders and Customs, told state news agency SANA that unloading operations had begun at the Mediterranean port before the cargo continues overland to Iraq.

The development comes amid renewed efforts by Baghdad and Damascus to revive cross-border trade and transport links disrupted by years of conflict and ISIS activity along the frontier.

Last month, Iraq reopened the Rabia border crossing with Syria for the first time in more than a decade to facilitate trade and overland fuel exports through Syrian territory, while the Al-Qaim crossing resumed commercial and passenger traffic in 2025.