The last official border crossing between Lebanon and Syria that was closed because of the war reopened on Dec. 14.

“Welcome to Bashar al-Assad’s Syria” is posted on a sign visible to travelers exiting Lebanon. “The Lebanese and Syrians are one people that live in two brotherly lands.”

On the day following the opening of the border crossing, the road on the Lebanese side remained decidedly empty, apart from a few vans going back and forth between fields where Syrian refugees work. Since the war in Syria began in 2011, the number of refugees has swollen to 30,000 in Qaa and its surroundings, according to Bashir Matar, the mayor of Qaa, the closest Lebanese town to the border.

Taxi drivers like Souhair Wannous, who decided to try out the Qaa-Joussieh crossing, are rare. “I left Syria this morning, and I’m on my way back now,” he told Al-Monitor. Every day, Wannous drives between Homs, just half an hour away into Syria from the border, and Chtaura, one of the main cities of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Using this crossing instead of the one he normally uses just north of the Lebanese town of Tripoli enables Wannous to cut a six-hour trip down to 3½ hours.