First international flight since al-Assad’s removal lands in Syria

The archetypal planetary commercialized formation since the autumn of erstwhile Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has landed astatine the Damascus airport.

The Qatar Airways formation landed astatine Damascus International Airport connected Tuesday, greeted by the passengers’ relatives and friends wrong a terminal building.

Ashad al-Suleibi, caput of Syria’s Air Transport Authority, said Qatar had provided assistance successful rehabilitating the airport, which had suffered from years of neglect arsenic good arsenic sustaining damages from periodic Israeli aerial strikes.

“There was a batch of harm from the [al-Assad] authorities to this lively country and this lively airdrome and besides the Aleppo airport,” helium said.

Many passengers were Syrian nationals coming backmost for the archetypal clip successful much than a decade.

Osama Musalama, who came from the United States, said it was his archetypal sojourn since earlier the civilian warfare that started successful 2011.

“I mislaid anticipation that I would travel backmost to Syria,” helium said. “We were waiting for this infinitesimal and mislaid hope, but convey God present the state is backmost to its people.”

Passengers deterioration flags adopted by the caller Syrian rulers astatine the accomplishment terminal of Damascus airdrome [Yamam Al Shaar/Reuters]

Separately, Jordanian state-run Petra quality bureau reported that a Royal Jordanian Airlines level departed for Damascus connected a trial flight.

The caput of Jordan’s Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission, Haitham Misto, who was connected committee the formation with a squad of specialists, said that the purpose was to measure the method information of Damascus airdrome earlier resuming regular flights.

Since the lightning rebel violative that toppled al-Assad a period ago, Arab and Western countries that had chopped disconnected relations with the erstwhile authorities person been reopening diplomatic relations with Syria’s caller de facto authorities, headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

‘Security, stability, sovereignty’

Syria’s caller overseas minister, Asaad al-Shibani, has travelled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates successful caller days. The Gulf countries are apt to beryllium cardinal to backing Syria’s reconstruction aft astir 14 years of civilian warfare that preceded al-Assad’s ouster.

On Tuesday, al-Shibani travelled to Jordan to conscionable with his counterpart successful Amman. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said the officials were acceptable to sermon “mechanisms of practice successful galore areas including borders, security, energy, transportation, water, commercialized and different captious sectors”.

Under al-Assad’s rule, Jordan had been a main conduit for smuggling highly addictive Captagon amphetamines produced successful Syria into Gulf states, which was a constituent of hostility betwixt the 2 countries.

Syria’s caller authorities person made a amusement of cracking down connected the Captagon trade, dismantling erstwhile factories successful locations including the Mezzeh aerial basal successful Damascus, a car trading institution successful Latakia and a mill that erstwhile made snack chips successful the Damascus suburb of Douma.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi shingle hands during a property league arsenic they conscionable successful Amman, Jordan [Alaa Al Sukhni/Reuters]

“The caller concern successful Syria has besides ended the threats that antecedently threatened the information of the Kingdom [of Jordan], with respect to drugs and Captagon, and we pledge that this happening has ended and volition not instrumentality again,” al-Shibani said successful a associated quality league with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi.

Al-Safadi said that his state supports the Syrian radical arsenic they enactment to “rebuild their homeland connected the foundations that sphere its security, stability, sovereignty and unity and fulfill the rights of its people”, adding that Jordan is “ready to supply energy to our brothers immediately, and we are besides acceptable to enactment unneurotic to supply gas”.

Syria, targeted by stringent Western sanctions, has been successful a prolonged economical crisis. Syrians person lone a fewer hours of state-provided energy each day.

Separately, al-Shibani said astatine the associated quality league that the authorities successful Syria are expected to acceptable up an inclusive committee to hole for a “national dialog conference” to sermon the aboriginal of the country.

He said that the interim authorities had initially intended to clasp the league successful aboriginal January, but instead, “we chose to signifier an expanded mentation committee” that would conscionable astatine an unspecified date.

The committee would “include men and women… capable to afloat correspond the Syrian people” crossed “all segments of Syrian nine and provinces”, the overseas curate said.