Reconstruction of the bridge at the Arida border crossing, Akkar (far north), spanning the al-Kabir river between Lebanon and Syria. This crossing will be closed to travelers for 15 days starting Aug. 6. (Photo sent by Michel Hallak)
NORTH LEBANON — The Syrian General Committee of Borders and Customs announced Wednesday that the Arida crossing between Syria and Lebanon (Akkar, northern Lebanon) will be completely closed starting Thursday, Aug. 6, for a period of 15 days, due to renovation work, our correspondent in the region reports.
"The closure is due to the start of engineering work on the last span of the bridge at the border crossing, on the Lebanese side," said the committee’s communications director, Mazen Allouche, in a statement. He asked "travelers to use other border crossings during the closure, until the necessary work is completed and an alternative route is established to allow traffic to partially resume safely and smoothly."
The Arida border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, near the village of Abboudieh (Akkar), which includes a bridge spanning the al-Kabir river — the natural border between the two countries — was damaged in 2024 during the last armed conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, likely to prevent fighters from escaping. Work on the Syrian side has been accelerated in recent weeks. Syrian authorities have rehabilitated the bridge over the river and renovated two other bridges at the Arida crossing, in the Wadi Khaled region, inaugurated about four months ago. However, they are currently open only for pedestrians, pending the administrative and logistical procedures needed to allow vehicles to cross.
On the Lebanese side, the government had previously carried out emergency repairs to allow pedestrian passage. According to our correspondent, officials from both countries are trying to speed up repairs to ease pressure on the main northern border crossing, Jdeidet Yabous (Akkar).
