Iraqi ports reveal official number of foreign pilgrims that have come to participate in this year’s Arbaeen Pilgrimage up until yesterday (Friday)

Today, Saturday, the Iraqi Border Ports Authority confirmed that all pilgrims are subject to inspection and passport stamps, indicating that no pilgrim is allowed to pass without an official document approved by the passport system.

The head of the Border Ports Authority, Major General Omar Al-Waeli, said: “The mechanism for entering pilgrims through the border crossings was approved within the supreme security plan headed by the Minister of the Interior,” noting that “the procedures are going according to the mechanism that was established through the inspection of all incoming pilgrims, in addition to stamping all passports.

No pilgrim is allowed entry unless he/she has an official approved document that enters the passport system and the Iraqi system.

He added: “We ask the Iranian side to conduct a grouping process and not to send the pilgrims at once because it affects the health and safety of the pilgrims. We also call on them to abide by the numbers established between the two sides as stipulated in the Iraqi-Iranian security agreement,” noting that “the number of Iranian pilgrims who entered through the border crossings amounted to two million, so this issue needs to be studied well.”

He pointed out that “there is high coordination between the Border Ports Authority, the Ministry of Interior, the joint commands and the provinces.”

The following is a statistic of the number of incoming and outgoing pilgrims at the ports covered by the Arbaeen Pilgrimage up until yesterday, Friday:

Zorbatia Border Crossing
Number of Arrivals: 949,417
Number of Departures: 183,716

Shalamcheh Border Crossing
Number of Arrivals: 524,985
Number of Departures: 95,122

Sheeb Border Crossing
Number of Arrivals: 222,028
Number of Departures; 54,867

Munthiriya Border Crossing
Arrival numbers 142,269
Number of Departures: 12,397

Najaf International Airport
Number of Arrivals: 74,703

Safwan Border Crossing
Number of Arrivals: 13,874
Number of Departures: 5,832

Baghdad International Airport
Number of Arrivals: 6,662

Total:
Number of Arrivals: 1,933,938
Number of Departures: 351,934