By Yasser Faisal AL-WALEED BORDER CROSSING, Iraq, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Outside a dusty, nearly deserted border crossing, Iraqis sit on battered suitcases, biding time and growing desperate as they wait to rejoin family members over the border in Syria. "We want to go see our families who are in Syria. The rest of our family, we want to bring them back but they won't let us enter," a woman, who gave her name only as Bushra, told Reuters. Bushra has waited for a visa for 10 days after a trip to Baghdad so that she can join her 10-year-old daughter in Syria. She and scores of other Iraqis who have lined up at the al-Waleed border crossing in recent weeks are just a few of the Iraqis whose hopes of fleeing rampant violence in Iraq have been dashed by new, more stringent immigration rules. The border crossing, normally bustling with travellers, also reflects the stress that the tide of at least 2.2 million Iraqi refugees has placed on neighbouring countries, and which has prompted Syria to impose tighter entry rules for Iraqis. The United Nations estimates that about 4.4 million Iraqis have either left Iraq or been displaced internally. Syria has taken in an estimated 1.4 million to 2 million Iraqi refugees since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. At one point 4,000-6,000 refugees were entering daily across the desert border, but the number of Iraqis making it to Syria has fallen sharply since Damascus introduced the new rules last month, providing visas only for merchants and academics. Syria's sudden stringency was bad news for Iraqis hoping to escape the turmoil of sectarian killings and kidnappings that has swept the country since the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein. Jordan, where up to 750,000 Iraqis now live, had already tightened its restrictions. Some advocates, like Refugees International, have urged countries to do more to support Syria, which temporarily relaxed its new restrictions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in September and October. The changes have also confused travellers, with the chance of securing a visa seeming to change from day to day. "They told us in Baghdad that the borders are open and you have to pay $50 to get an entry visa. Then we came here and were told that there is no such thing," said Abbas Fadil, another traveller. "What shall we do? ... We are starving and have no money." BUSINESS BLOW Tighter visa rules are also a blow to businesses and merchants who came to depend on bustling trade and transit between Syria and Iraq. On roads that once brought buses and cars full of travellers to and from Baghdad, there are now shuttered restaurants and deserted petrol stations. Akram Wael used to shuttle travellers across the border on 10 buses every day. These days, the buses carry furniture. "Since the imposition of the visa restrictions, barely two passengers travel by bus a day. So buses go empty to Syria and return full of goods," he said. Likewise, business is bad for Riyad Ahmed, whose shop in Rutbah sells toiletries and other goods. "So many people have suffered here. I'm out of business as well." Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have also fled their homes to other parts of Iraq, renting homes in other cities and even squatting in vacant houses or public buildings. The ranks of internally displaced Iraqis has grown steadily since the bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in Samarra in February 2006, reaching 2.3 million at the end of September, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent. (Writing by Missy Ryan; editing by Dominic Evans)
