Damascus airport reopens

The Damascus airport reopened Wednesday for the first time since the fall of the government of Bashar Assad, and the first civilian plane took off from Damascus and landed in the northern city of Aleppo.

The airport is currently open only to domestic flights, but Syrian airspace is open to international traffic.

Airport officials have not yet specified when international flights will resume at the Damascus airport, but Saad Khair Bec, technical supervisor, called Wednesday’s reopening “an important day in the life of the Syrian people ... after the fall of the former shabby regime.”

State institutions have been gradually returning to work in recent days, including the main port in the coastal city of Latakia.