STORY: :: Syrians reunite with their families as Damascus airport reopens international flights

:: Damascus, Syria

:: January 7, 2025

“I am a dissident police officer, I left Syria in 2012 and did not return since then. I cannot describe my happiness. I needed a miracle to return via Damascus international airport and the miracle happened.”

“Look at this joy, look at the Syrian people how happy they are. We did a wedding (celebrated as if it was a wedding) on the plane from Doha until here. We were singing throughout the flight.”

The first flight to land in the Syrian capital was a Qatar airways flight from Doha.

A Syrian Airlines flight with 145 passengers on board left Damascus for Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

In 2012, most airline companies halted their flights to and from Damascus airport following Bahsar al-Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on civil democracy protests.

This made Syrians obliged to travel via Lebanon or Jordan which caused many difficulties related to costs and time.

Last week, Qatar Airways was the first international airline company to announce that it would resume flights to the Syrian capital as of Jan. 7.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.

The takeover came after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters captured key cities in a lightning offensive that lasted less than two weeks.