DAMASCUS: International flights resumed at Syria’s main airport in Damascus on Tuesday for the first time since Islamist-led forces toppled president Bashar Al-Assad last month. There was an air of excitement at the terminal, AFP journalists saw, with arriving passengers chanting and cheering, some draped in the country’s three-star independence flag.

Syrians carrying colorful balloons and flowers greeted passengers who arrived on the first Qatari commercial flight in nearly 13 years, which landed at around 1:00 pm (10:00 GMT). Some of the passengers knelt down to kiss the ground. “I’m waiting for my brother, who I haven’t seen in 17 years. He couldn’t return... because of the regime,” Reem Taghleb, 37, told AFP. “He took the first opportunity to return to Syria on the first Qatari plane,” she added, with emotion in her voice. “We’re so happy for his return, and for our country’s freedom.”

A Syrian Airlines plane bound for Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates took off at around 11:45 am, marking the first international commercial flight from the airport since Dec 8, AFP correspondents said. The three-star flag, long associated with opposition to Assad and which the new authorities have adopted, was painted on the plane. “Today marks a new beginning,” Damascus airport director Anis Fallouh told AFP.

On Tuesday, Qatar Airways resumed flights to Damascus after a nearly 13-year hiatus, with three weekly flights scheduled. Fallouh confirmed that “the first incoming flight is a Qatar Airways plane”. International aid planes and foreign diplomatic delegations had already been landing in Syria, and domestic flights had also resumed.

“I was afraid that the airport would stay closed. My visa was about to expire, but now I am very happy,” Amal Jeroudi, a 45-year-old Syrian, told AFP as she awaited her flight to Dubai where she was meeting her relatives. She said airport employees during Assad’s rule “were condescending, but today they are very nice and welcomed us with a smile”.

State news agency SANA reported that “the first Syrian plane after liberation” took off for Sharjah with “145 Syrian passengers onboard”. Ashhad Al-Salibi, who heads the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, told reporters that a Sham Wings flight was due to fly to Arbil in Iraq later in the day. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency, citing Civil Aviation official Haitham Misto, said a Royal Jordanian test flight had also departed on Tuesday for Damascus. The flight is “a message of support and solidarity” that also “aims to assess the technical condition of Damascus International Airport”, Misto said.

A Qatari official told AFP last month that Doha had offered the new Syrian authorities help in resuming operations at Damascus airport. On Dec 18, the first flight since Islamist-led rebels ousted Assad 10 days earlier took off from Damascus airport bound for Syria’s second city Aleppo in the north, according to AFP journalists. – AFP