First international flight lands in Syria since Assad’s ouster: NPR

DAMASCUS, SYRIA – The first international commercial flight since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad landed at Damascus airport on Tuesday.

The Qatar Airways plane landed at Damascus International Airport and was greeted by relatives and friends of the passengers inside the terminal building.

Ashad al-Thulaibi, head of the Syrian Air Transport Authority, said Qatar provided assistance in repairing the airport, which had been neglected for years and suffered damage from regular Israeli airstrikes.

“To be honest, the (Assad) regime has caused a lot of damage to this vibrant region and this vibrant airport, and also the Aleppo airport,” he said.

Many of the passengers were Syrian nationals arriving for the first time in more than a decade.

Osama Musalama, from the United States, said it was his first visit since before the civil war began in 2011.

“I have lost hope of returning to Syria,” he said. “We have been waiting for this moment and lost hope, but we thank God that now this country is back to its people.”

Separately, Jordan’s official Petra news agency reported that a Royal Jordanian aircraft departed for Damascus on a test flight. Colonel Haitham Mist, head of the Jordanian Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission, who was on board the plane with a team of experts, said the aim was to assess the technical condition of Damascus airport before resuming regular flight operations.

Arab countries and Western countries, which had severed ties with the previous regime since the rebels’ lightning attack that ousted President Bashar al-Assad a month ago, have joined the Islamist former rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. It is resuming diplomatic relations with Syria’s new de facto authorities led by the US government. Or HTS.

Syria’s new foreign minister, Assad al-Shibani, has visited Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in recent days. Gulf states are likely to be key to financing Syria’s reconstruction after nearly 14 years of civil war that preceded the overthrow of Assad.

On Tuesday, al-Shibani traveled to Jordan to meet with him in Amman. Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the officials will discuss “mechanisms for cooperation in a number of areas, including borders, security, energy, transport, water, trade and other important areas.”

Under Assad, Jordan was a major route for smuggling the highly addictive captagon amphetamine produced in Syria to Gulf states, a point of tension between the two countries.

Syria’s new authorities are cracking down on Captagon’s trade, demolishing old factories including the Madse air base in Damascus, a car trading company in Latakia and a former snack chip factory in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

“The new situation in Syria has also put an end to the threats that previously threatened the security of the (Jordanian) kingdom regarding drugs and Captagon. We vow that this situation will end and it will never return.” he said. He made this statement at a joint press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi.

Prime Minister Safadi said he supported the Syrian people in their efforts to “rebuild their homeland on a foundation that maintains security, stability, sovereignty and unity and realizes the rights of its people,” and told Jordan that “We are ready to supply electricity,” it added. Immediately contact our compatriots, we are also ready to cooperate to supply gasoline. ”

Syria, which is subject to severe Western sanctions, has been mired in a protracted economic crisis, with Syrians receiving only a few hours of state-supplied electricity a day.