The General Organization for Free Zones signed eight contracts with four local, Arab, and foreign companies to launch investment projects in the al-Tanf (southeastern Syria) and al-Yarubiyah (northeastern Syria) free zones on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
The contracts, signed on Tuesday, October 13, included four for logistics and industrial activities in the al-Tanf free zone, covering an investment area of approximately 500,000 square meters.
Another four contracts cover approximately 125,000 square meters in the al-Yarubiyah free zone, aiming to develop its role as a commercial and service hub on the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to a statement published by the General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs on its official channels.
According to the authority, the investments cover trade in oil and petroleum products, manufacturing, storage, transit, and integrated logistics services.
It said the projects aim to help diversify economic activities in the two zones and expand services for investors and freight traffic.
The authority said the contracts’ importance stems from the two zones’ strategic locations and the opportunities they offer to strengthen trade links connecting Iraq and the Arab Gulf states with Syrian ports and, onward, Turkish and European markets, while developing transport and transit routes between countries in the region.
It described the signing as “a practical step toward turning the two free zones into active centers for investment and trade, supporting the national economy and making greater use of Syria’s geographical position as a link between regional and international markets.”
Opening the al-Yarubiyah and al-Tanf Crossings
The al-Tanf and al-Yarubiyah crossings opened earlier this year as part of a plan to strengthen trade with Iraq.
Mazen Alloush, director of public relations at Syria’s General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs, announced the reopening of the al-Tanf, al-Waleed border crossing with Iraq on March 31, confirming that the first convoys of Iraqi oil tankers had begun entering Syria en route to the Baniyas oil terminal (western Syria).
In a post on his official Facebook page at the time, Alloush said the reopening came “as part of efforts to strengthen economic cooperation between Syria and Iraq.”
He added that the step reflected “the resumption of commercial transit and the strengthening of energy flows through Syrian territory.”
The opening of the al-Yarubiyah crossing with Iraq in Hasakah governorate (northeastern Syria) was also announced on April 20. Iraqi crude oil exports to Syria through the crossing began on May 1, after Iraq’s Border Ports Authority announced that it had dispatched the first 70 oil tankers toward Syria through the crossing.
The move to export Iraqi oil through Syrian territory came as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continued because of the US-Israeli war against Iran, sharply reducing Iraqi oil exports.
In response, the Iraqi government implemented an emergency plan to maintain a minimum level of flows by restarting the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline and activating temporary overland transport routes through Syria, alongside regional coordination to facilitate exports through alternative crossings.
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