Syria will resume international flights from Damascus airport next week News

The airport management said that the flights will resume on January 7, as Qatar Airways will start flights to Damascus after 13 years.

Syria’s Damascus airport will resume international flights on Tuesday for the first time since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad by armed opposition fighters last month.

No flights have taken off or landed since pro-Assad forces left the Syrian capital’s airport on December 8 after opposition fighters marched into the city following a lightning attack that began on November 27.

State news agency SANA quoted Ashhad al-Salibi, head of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, as saying, “We announce that we will start accepting international flights to Damascus International Airport from Tuesday.”

“We assure Arab and international airlines that, with the help of our partners, we have started the rehabilitation phase of Aleppo and Damascus airports so that they can receive flights from all over the world.”

Al Jazeera’s Hashim Ahelbarra, reporting from Damascus, said the announcement had “significant political and economic implications” for the war-torn nation.

“The new administration has reached out to key regional players, particularly Qatar, about the need to help restore the airport in Damascus to international security standards.”

“They want to send a message that life is back to normal in Syria and allow hundreds of thousands of Syrians living abroad to return home. It is also a message to the international community that the new administration in control is able to ensure security standards in Syria despite the situation in the entire country.”

International aid planes and foreign diplomatic missions they have already landed in Syria. Domestic flights resumed on December 18 flight According to AFP news agency, he left Damascus for Aleppo.

Syrian Airlines will resume flights from Damascus to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from Tuesday, an employee told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Qatar Airways announced on Thursday that it will resume flights to the Syrian capital after nearly 13 years, starting on Tuesday with three weekly flights.