Syria announces resumption of international flights to and from Damascus on Tuesday

Syria announced on Saturday the resumption of international flights to and from Damascus International Airport on Tuesday, the country's main airport, after a suspension of commercial links following the rebel takeover in December.

“We announce the resumption of international flights to and from Damascus International Airport from Tuesday”said the head of the Civil Aviation and Air Transport Authority, Achhad al-Salibi, quoted by the Syrian news agency Sana. “We reassure Arab and international airlines that we have started the phase of rehabilitation of Aleppo and Damascus airports with the help of our partners, so that they can accommodate planes from all over the world”he added.

International aid planes have already landed in Syria and domestic flights have also resumed. On Thursday, Qatar Airways announced the resumption of its flights to the Syrian capital from Tuesday, after almost thirteen years of interruption.

On December 18, the first flight since the flight of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, ousted from power by a coalition of rebels ten days earlier, took off from Damascus airport to Aleppo, in the north of the country, noted AFP journalists.