The Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport announced its intention to open the Al-Bqai'a border crossing (Qamar Bridge) in the Wadi Khaled area, adjacent to the Homs countryside, starting from Monday, May 4, 2026, after completing comprehensive rehabilitation and equipment works in a step aimed at enhancing land connectivity and revitalizing economic movement in the border areas.
In a statement carried by the Lebanese News Agency, the ministry explained that this step comes after a coordination meeting held with the Syrian side to discuss the mechanisms of restarting the port and organizing its work, noting that the technical teams have started to carry out comprehensive field works to rehabilitate the infrastructure of the port, including repairing the roads leading to it, equipping operational facilities, and ensuring that technical standards and public safety requirements are met, in order to ensure its operational readiness as soon as possible.
According to the statement, the rehabilitation works include preparing the courtyards and courtyards belonging to the security services in the vicinity of the bridge, with the aim of regulating the movement and facilitating procedures immediately after its reopening, in order to ensure the smooth flow of movement between the Lebanese and Syrian sides.
In the same context, the ministry pointed out that this step comes within the continuous coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian sides to reactivate the border crossings, as local sources had reported that there are joint movements to study the possibility of adopting the port as an official corridor to regulate the movement of goods in accordance with legal frameworks, in order to enhance customs control and reduce smuggling.
6 border crossings linking Syria and Lebanon
Syria and Lebanon have six official land crossings that form the main artery for the movement of passengers and goods between the two countries. The Jdeideh Yabous port, the most vital factory, connecting Damascus directly to Beirut, returned to normal operations in May 2026 after temporary closures imposed by security threats in April.
The Joussiya-Al-Qaa crossing between the countryside of Homs and Hermel, which endured a lot of pressure during the closure of the factory, is prominent while the Dabousiya-Aboudiya port is a major port towards northern Lebanon and is heavily used by trucks heading to Akkar.
On the coast, the Arida port is gradually reopening after partially reopening in March 2026, but movement is still limited to pedestrians only and in one direction from Lebanon to Syria due to damage to the bridge linking the two sides.
In the Wadi Khaled area, the Tal Kalakh-Bqai'a port continues to serve daily transit traffic between the Homs countryside and northern Lebanon, while it is completed by the Muthraba port, which was opened in 2022 to connect the Qusayr countryside with the villages of Hermel and facilitate the movement of the local population.
17 Illegal Outlets
The Syrian-Lebanese border is dotted with an extensive network of illegal crossings, estimated at 17 known key crossings, while more recent security estimates indicate that there are up to 136 breach points or small dirt tracks along the 375-kilometer border, often managed by local-tribal logic or through de facto forces, and used for smuggling and illegal movement, making them a near-constant part of the complex border landscape between the two countries.
Since the beginning of 2026, the Lebanese Armed Forces has intensified its field measures by strengthening internationally supported observation towers and erecting tall earthen berms in al-Qaa projects, in an attempt to permanently close these outlets and curb cross-border smuggling.