Kuwait to reopen Abdali crossing within 48 hours following drone attack

BASRA — Kuwait will reopen the Abdali border crossing to passenger and commercial traffic within 48 hours, Interior Minister Fahad Yusuf Saud Al Sabah said Saturday, two days after a drone attack damaged the facility and forced its closure at the height of the Arbaeen pilgrimage season.

Al Sabah announced the reopening at Iraq’s Safwan crossing, opposite Abdali, during a meeting with Basra Gov. Asaad al-Eidani. The Iraqi side was not affected by Thursday’s attack.

“The Abdali crossing will reopen to passenger and commercial traffic within 48 hours,” Al Sabah told reporters, including 964media. He said it would receive Iraqi travelers and allow Kuwaitis to cross into Iraq for Arbaeen. Damage would be assessed and repaired as quickly as possible without holding up operations, he said: “Traffic must continue.”

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that drones struck the crossing, causing material damage but no casualties, and that specialized teams secured the site and cleared drone debris. No group has claimed the attack.

Al Sabah used the visit to reject what he cast as attempts to drive the two countries apart. “We will not allow anyone who harbors ill intentions and tries to create division between Iraq and Kuwait, and we will work to stop discord at its beginning,” he said, adding that the visit would not be his last. “Our relationship is one of brotherhood, and whatever happens between the two countries, we will remain neighbors and brothers.”

Eidani said the visit “sends a message from Kuwait that Iraq is a brotherly country and that the Iraqi and Kuwaiti governments are working for the stability of this region,” and that individual mistakes should not damage relations.

That last phrase points to a separate dispute still unresolved between the neighbors. Iraqi fisherman Najm Abdullah, also identified by Basra officials as Najm al-Tamimi, was shot dead by the Kuwaiti coast guard earlier this month. Fishermen traveling with him told 964media that a Kuwaiti patrol opened fire near Buoy No. 5 in waters off Faw without warning, killing Abdullah with shots to the head and chest and seriously wounding another fisherman, Thaer, whom they said was left paralyzed in both legs.

The fishermen alleged that Kuwaiti security personnel beat them while they were blindfolded during six days in detention and pressed them to confess to links with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard or Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, though they said some Kuwaiti investigators and officers treated them well. Kuwait has not publicly responded to the allegations. The men were released after intervention by Iraq’s Foreign Ministry and Basra authorities, fisherman Hassan Khalid said.

On July 15, the Basra Governorate Council called on Iraq’s Cabinet to recognize Abdullah as a martyr and secure compensation and other rights for his family. Basra officials said a senior Iraqi delegation had visited Kuwait to investigate the shooting and discuss joint maritime patrols to protect fishermen.

Abdali was the second border crossing in the region hit within hours Thursday. Iran’s Shalamcheh crossing with Iraq was struck early that day, killing two people and wounding 11 when the arrivals hall was hit. Operations there resumed later Thursday. Both crossings are main routes for pilgrims heading to Karbala for Arbaeen, which falls on the 40th day after Ashura, marking the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680.