The Quneitra border crossing between Syria and Israel is ready to open on the Syrian side, according to the Deputy Commander of the Russian Forces in Syria, Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, who spoke to reporters on Tuesday.
“The border crossing is ready for opening and for launching operations,” Kuralenko said, noting that “this comes due to a great effort of the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic with the assistance of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It began with crushing the terrorists in that region. Then a large group of officers worked together with representatives of the Syrian Armed Forces on implementing steps for a post-conflict settlement.”
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has said that Israel was ready to open the Quneitra crossing, which is the only official border crossing with Syria.
Druze residents of the Golan Heights are permitted to go through the Quneitra Crossing to study, work and live in Syria. Since 2004, Israeli Druze have been exporting apples to Syria through the crossing. In 2010, some 10,000 tons of apples grown by Druze farmers in the Golan Heights were sent to Syria. Also in 2010, the Israeli government authorized a pilgrimage to Syria by a group of 300 Druze citizens of Israel to visit religious sites. A group of dancers from five Druze villages in the Golan Heights was sent to Aleppo to perform in a debka dance competition. And since 1993, 67 Syrian brides have crossed into the Golan Heights and 11 brides from the Golan have crossed into Syria through the Quneitra crossing.
This idyllic situation came to a halt on June 6, 2013, when the crossing station was attacked by Syrian rebels and temporarily occupied. Syrian government forces quickly retook the crossing, but after a Filipino peacekeeper of the UNDOF was wounded in the fighting, the Austrian government withdrew its troops from the UN mission. And on August 27, 2014, Syrian rebels again occupied the crossing, remaining there until the summer of 2018, when the Russian military launched a campaign to remove them, once and for all. The bulk of the rebels have put down their weapons and surrendered to the Russians, who have been maintaining law and order in the area using their military police.