DAMASCUS: The first flight since the ouster of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad took off today from Damascus airport to Aleppo in the country’s north, AFP journalists saw.
Forty-three people including journalists were on board the Syrian Air Airbus plane.
Assad fled Syria as a lightning rebel offensive launched on Nov 27 wrested city after city from his control.
His army and security forces abandoned Damascus airport on Dec 8, and until today no flights had taken off or landed.
Earlier this week, airport staff were painting on planes the three-star independence flag that became a symbol of the 2011 uprising and which the country’s new rulers have adopted.
In the terminal, the new flag also replaced the one linked to Assad’s era.