Lebanon and Syria said Thursday (December 14th) they will reopen a border crossing closed five years ago, AFP reported.
The crossing, called al-Qaa in Lebanon and Jussiyeh in Syria, was closed in 2012 as fighting raged between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and opposition fighters seeking his overthrow.
"Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) elements had moved into the border area but were pushed out in offensives by regime forces in Syria and the Lebanese army on the other side of the frontier.
Ceremonies were held Thursday on both sides of the al-Qaa/Jussiyeh crossing, which is set to reopen on Friday morning.
It was the only one of the five crossings between Lebanon and Syria that was permanently closed by the war.
The head of Lebanon's General Security directorate, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, said the reopening of the crossing was a moment for celebration after it was closed by "terrorism that targeted the entire region".
The mainly Christian al-Qaa area in Lebanon was targeted several times in cross-border attacks, including suicide bombings in June last year that killed five people.
