Spain checked around 200 travellers arriving from Italy at the country’s six largest airports on the ​first day of border controls reintroduced following a ‌dispute with Italy over irregular migration.

Spain’s Interior Ministry carried out checks on a total of 199 people on 12 flights from ​Italy to airports in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, Alicante ​and Valencia, it said late on Saturday.

Spain said ⁠on Friday border controls for flights and ships from ​Italy would remain in force until September 7 after Rome ​applied its own measures, which it said were motivated by the mass migration rush by 72,000 people to Spain’s North African enclave ​of Ceuta on July 30.

Italy has suspended the European ​Union’s border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain since August 1 and said it ‌would ⁠maintain border controls until at least August 15.

Rome said the measure would not affect Spanish or other EU citizens travelling to Italy and would instead involve targeted checks ​on non-EU nationals ​arriving from ⁠Spain by air or sea.

“We hope to be able to lift the suspension soon, ​as soon as there is no longer ​any risk,” ⁠Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Sunday.

The Schengen Area allows ⁠passport-free ​travel across 29 European countries, although ​member states can temporarily reintroduce border controls on security or public-order grounds.