Russia: Syria regime ready to reopen Quneitra border crossing with Israel

The Russian Ministry of Defence said yesterday that the Syrian regime is also ready to reopen the Quneitra border crossing with Israel.

“The border crossing is ready for opening and for launching operations. This comes due to a great effort carried out by the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic with the assistance of the Russian Aerospace Forces,” said Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, deputy commander of Russian forces in Syria.

Last month, the Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel was ready to reopen the border crossing which has been closed since 2014.

“The ball is now in the Syrian court. For our part, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) troops have started working and patrolling, with IDF assistance. This shows that we are ready to open the crossing as it was before,” Lieberman said.

He stressed that the Israeli authorities are ready to reexamine the possibility of re-exporting apples produced by Druze farmers in the Golan Heights to Syria.

The Syrian regime regained control of the Quneitra crossing on 26 July as part of a settlement agreement that led to the armed opposition groups leaving the area.

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