International flights resume at Damascus airport for first time since Assad’s overthrow
(MENAFN) For the first time since President Bashar Assad was overthrown by Islamist-led rebels last month, international flights resumed Tuesday at Syria's major airport in Damascus.
At the Damascus airport, where an AFP correspondent witnessed travelers coming from Qatar cheering and chanting, some of whom were carrying Syria's three-star independence flag, there was a sense of excitement.
"Today is a new beginning," Anis Fallouh, the director of the airport in Damascus, told AFP.
He added that the first flight was headed for Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and that "we started welcoming outbound and inbound international flights."
Around 1:00 PM (10:00 GMT), the first commercial flight from Qatar in almost 13 years touched down in Damascus.
The first international commercial flight from the airport since December 8 was a Syrian Airlines jet headed for Sharjah, which took off at approximately 11:45 AM (0845 GMT), according to AFP sources.
The aircraft was painted with Syria's three-star independence flag, which has long been linked to anti-Assad sentiment and has been embraced by the country's new leadership.
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