Shafaq News- Al-Anbar

Gasoline tanker trucks have begun entering Iraq through the Al-Waleed border crossing from Syria’s Baniyas port, with around 3,000 loads planned to ease fuel shortages, Al-Rutba district administrator Emad Al-Rishawi told Shafaq News on Saturday.

He said traffic through the crossing was proceeding normally without disruptions, citing direct coordination between Iraqi and Syrian authorities.

The development follows an Iraqi oil source’s disclosure to Shafaq News that tankers carrying gasoline had arrived at Syria’s Baniyas port for onward transport by road to Iraq, marking the first imports through the route.

The Syrian Petroleum Company also announced the departure of the first convoys toward the Iraqi border.

Safwan Sheikh Ahmed, the company’s director of institutional communications, said Syrian ports had received three tankers carrying petroleum products. The first, loaded with 32,000 tonnes of gasoline, had been unloaded, while the other two were awaiting unloading.

He said truck loading began on September 22, with two convoys dispatched so far —the first comprising 10 tanker trucks and the second 55.

Sheikh Ahmed said Syrian ports and technical crews were ready to increase loading capacity to 150 tanker trucks per day as additional trucks become available.

The shipments are aimed at easing gasoline shortages that have affected Baghdad and several other Iraqi provinces for weeks, following pledges by Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Al-Abadi to address the shortfall and secure urgent supplies for the domestic market.