New Delhi, April 21 -- A key border crossing between Iraq and Syria reopened on Monday for the first time in more than a decade, with officials highlighting its potential for trade and oil exports. Syria touted the crossing as a safe overland route for oil exports and an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz at the focus of the Iran war.

The crossing - known as Rabia in Iraq and Yarubiyah in Syria - was closed after the Syrian civil war began in 2011. Then in 2014, militants from the Islamic State group seized the area. Iraqi Kurdish forces later retook it.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said that Syrian and Iraqi officials at the crossing discussed how to improve coordination and ease transit and trade "in line with shared interests....