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In response to Israel’s operations in Gaza, protesters in Iraq have halted oil tanker trucks from entering Jordan.

Approximately 800 members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), primarily a Shi’ite militia supported by Iran, initiated a sit-in on Friday at the primary border crossing between Iraq and Jordan. Their aim is to show support for Gaza and demand a cessation to Israel’s military actions and blockades.

Protester Karar al-Zamili stated, “Preventing the trucks from crossing is meant to prevent Iraqi oil, which reaches them (Jordan) at a subsidized price, from going to countries that have normalized relations with Israel.” Significantly, Jordan stands as one of the few Arab nations that maintains both a peace treaty and robust security connections with Israel.

On average, Iraq dispatches around 15,000 barrels per day of its crude oil to Jordan using these tankers. This border, located in the Anbar province, is Iraq’s nearest route to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The blockade took effect on Wednesday morning, and while previously about 70 trucks carrying crude oil traversed this crossing daily, the demonstrators are allowing passenger and other commodity transport to proceed unhindered.