Syria’s main airport handles the first international flights since the fall of the Assad regime
Syria’s main airport handled its first international flights on Tuesday since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s government last month, as new leaders pressed to reaffirm normalcy in this war-weary nation.
A Qatar Airways plane has landed after a direct flight from Doha to the Syrian capital Damascus. The Jordanian Civil Aviation Authority announced that it also sent its first flight to Damascus on Tuesday morning as a “message of support” to its northern neighbor, the first trip there by the national airline. joining after 13 years.
Another flight of Syria’s national airline took off Tuesday for the United Arab Emirates carrying 145 passengers, according to Syrian state media. Video shared by Syrian media showed people on the ship waving Syrian flags and singing nationalist songs.
Syria’s new Islamist leaders have pledged to convene a commission to draft a comprehensive constitution for the country. They called on civil servants to return to work to operate the government machinery and emphasized that Syria no longer posed any threat to its neighbors.
But the country remains subject to a series of international sanctions imposed under al-Assad. And the new interim government is run by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has been blacklisted as a terrorist group by many countries because of its past ties to Al Qaeda, although it has split from it for several years. last year.
Western leaders have reacted to the new administration with both optimism and caution, concerned that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham could impose Muslim rule in the country or create a new wave of unrest in the country. They have called for a comprehensive political transformation.
“Europe will provide support, but Europe will not be the patron of new Islamic structures,” Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, said during a visit to Damascus last week.
Sanctions are one of the biggest obstacles facing Syria’s new government as it tries to chart a path forward. As soon as Mr. al-Assad flee country in December, one of the first demands of Ahmed al-Shara, the leader of the rebel coalition that overthrew the government, was for the United States and other countries to begin easing restrictions.
On Monday, the Biden administration up some restrictions on humanitarian aid to Syria. Still, the country maintains tough sanctions, reflecting how Western governments are carefully adjusting their approach to new leaders.
Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, Syria’s new foreign minister, welcomed the Biden administration’s decision to ease restrictions. Mr. al-Shibani and other newly appointed Syrian officials toured the region to appease Arab states wary of the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, including United Arab Emirates.
At a press conference in Jordan on Tuesday after meeting with Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, he called for the immediate lifting of remaining sanctions, arguing that the fall of Mr. every reason to keep them in place.
“Those economic sanctions are now being applied against the Syrian people, even if the reason they were imposed no longer exists,” Mr. al-Shibani said. “They should have been abolished as soon as the previous regime was overthrown.”
Mr. Safadi said Syria and Jordan had agreed to establish a joint committee to address security issues along their common border. Jordan has long expressed concern about the smuggling of weapons and drugs from Syrian territory, in particular captionan illegal stimulant trafficked illegally by close associates of Mr. al-Assad.
Mr. al-Shibani pledged that Syria’s new government would end captagon smuggling, which analysts say has brought huge profits into the coffers of senior officials in his government. Mr. al-Assad.
Mr. al-Shibani said the smuggling threat “will not return and we are ready to cooperate closely on this issue.”
