Jaber crossing ban lifted off 238 ‘bahara’ in effort to defuse Ramtha tensions

AMMAN — A ban on entry to Syria through the Jaber-Nasib border crossing has been lifted off 238 vehicles owned by the “bahara” following efforts led by the committee formed from Ramtha dignitaries in the wake of riots in the border town over the weekend in response to a Cabinet decision to impose tighter control on the borders.

“Bahara” is the Arabic term for sailors, used to describe drivers of vehicles carrying passengers to Syria, Iraq and other countries.

According to MP Khalid Abu Hassan, lifting the ban off 238 vehicles that work on the Ramtha-Damascus route, out of a total of 500 vehicles, was the result of a meeting between the committee and Interior Minister Salameh Hammad, Al Rai reported. 

Abu Hassan told Al Rai that Hammad pledged to lift the ban on the remaining vehicles and allow them to go back and forth through the recently reopened crossing between Jordan and Syria, provided that drivers adhere to laws and regulation and apply the clauses mentioned in a memorandum of understanding agreed upon with Ramtha dignitaries.

The MP also noted that the interior minister has promised to reconsider the cases of those arrested or detained during the weekend’s Ramtha events, and to release anyone who is proven to have no involvement in the rioting.

The lawmaker said that the dignitaries expressed their keenness on enforcing the law and maintaining the sovereignty of the state and the security and stability of the country, in addition to holding accountable all those proven to be outlaws.

The government on Saturday justified recent measures imposing restrictions on border crossings as an anti-smuggling effort taken to protect society from the hazards of narcotics, weapons and smoking, in the wake of small-scale rioting in Ramtha, as residents of the northern border town took to the streets on Friday to express anger over the decisions. 

A meeting late Saturday between government representatives and Ramtha dignitaries resulted in an agreement to cease all forms of escalation, according to news reports.

In a statement, the government highlighted that smuggling, in whichever form it may take, poses a threat to society and the national economy, noting that success in combating smuggling would contribute to overcoming a variety of economic challenges.

A significant number of the population of the northern district, some 90km north of Amman on the borders with Syria, work in passenger ferrying services. Before the break-out of the crisis in Syria in 2011, a total of 1,200 passenger vehicles used to operate on the Ramtha-Daraa and Jaber-Nasib border crossings between Jordan and Syria.

The Cabinet on Friday specified a cigarettes allowance for arriving passengers of one carton, containing 10 packs with 200 cigarettes, instead of two cartons.

To curb cigarette smuggling primarily through the Jaber crossing, the decision also expanded the jurisdiction of customs personnel and security to include the no-man’s land between Jordan and Syria, entitling them to perform initial inspections on travellers before they enter the customs zone.

The decision also labels as “smuggling” any involvement in the possession of more than one box of cigarettes, containing 10 packs with 200 cigarettes, and stipulates applying strict legal procedures, including the seizure of vehicles containing extra boxes.