ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s Customs Authority on Sunday announced that the Rabia border crossing with Syria will open on Monday, following more than a decade of closure, providing an additional route for the export of oil and goods.

“The crossing will open tomorrow, Monday,” Director General of Iraq’s General Authority of Customs Thamer Qasim Dawood told state media on Sunday.

The official added that the rehabilitation work at the site has been completed and necessary staff have been positioned on both sides and “fully prepared to commence operations."

“The crossing holds significant economic, political, and security importance, as it will be used for the exchange of goods and commodities and the export of oil,” Dawood said.

In addition, the crossing also serves as a transit route for Turkish goods through Syrian territory, which “will contribute to maximizing state resources and revitalizing the region's economy,” he added.

The Rabia crossing connects Iraq’s Nineveh to Syria’s city of Al-Yarubiyah, which has been closed for around 13 years after the Islamic State (ISIS) took over large swathes of territory on both sides of the border in 2014.

The move comes after the Al Waleed border crossing between Iraq and Syria was reopened late March to allow for the transport of Iraqi crude oil, with dozens of trucks carrying Iraqi oil having already crossed the border since.

The reopening of the crossings provides additional substitute routes for Baghdad to export its crude oil, after transports were largely halted from the south due to the closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz amid the US-Iran war, where majority of Iraq’s oil used to be exported.

Iraq has also been able to sell its oil through Turkey’s Ceyhan port following an agreement with the Kurdistan Region earlier in March, partially alleviating the export disruptions through the vital waterway.