Qatar Airways made the first international commercial flight to Damascus since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.View on euronews

Could the return of Qatar Airways to Damascus tempt other international airlines to put the Syrian capital back on the route map?

The first international commercial flight since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad has landed at the Damascus airport arriving from Qatar.

The national airline of Qatar has announced that it will resume weekly flights to Syria 13 years after cancelling operations. Qatar Airways will offer three weekly flights between Qatar and Damascus, Syria, from Tuesday (7 January). In 2011, flights by the carrier to and from Damascus and Aleppo were cancelled amid Syria’s civil war.

The country’s new leaders are pushing to restore a sense of normalcy. But Syria remains under a host of international sanctions imposed during the Assad regime.

Qatar Airways announced on Thursday it will resume flights to the Syrian capital Damascus from next week. "Qatar Airways is pleased to announce the resumption of three weekly flights to Damascus, Syria, from 7 January 2025," the national flag carrier said in a statement.

Qatar was the second country, after Turkey, to reopen its embassy in the Syrian capital following the overthrow of the Assad government