عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

First Flight Since Assad’s Fall Takes Off from Damascus

General Security personnel stand next to a Syrian Air airplane ahead of take-off as the airport reopens for internal flights in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
General Security personnel stand next to a Syrian Air airplane ahead of take-off as the airport reopens for internal flights in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
TT
TT

First Flight Since Assad’s Fall Takes Off from Damascus

General Security personnel stand next to a Syrian Air airplane ahead of take-off as the airport reopens for internal flights in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
General Security personnel stand next to a Syrian Air airplane ahead of take-off as the airport reopens for internal flights in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

The first flight since the ouster of Syria’s president Bashar Assad took off on Wednesday from Damascus airport to Aleppo in the country’s north, AFP journalists saw.
Thirty-two people including journalists were on board the plane.

Assad fled Syria as a lightning opposition offensive wrested from his control city after city.

His army and security forces abandoned Damascus airport on December 8, and until Wednesday 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.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Israel to Houthis: Whoever Harms Us Will be Harmed Sevenfold

Firefighters work at the scene of an Israeli airstrike on the Haziz power station in southern Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Firefighters work at the scene of an Israeli airstrike on the Haziz power station in southern Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
TT
TT

Israel to Houthis: Whoever Harms Us Will be Harmed Sevenfold

Firefighters work at the scene of an Israeli airstrike on the Haziz power station in southern Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Firefighters work at the scene of an Israeli airstrike on the Haziz power station in southern Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Israel’s defense minister said Thursday the country would “not allow the continuation” of shooting from Yemen’s Houthis, hours after Israel launched heavy airstrikes on militia sites.

“I suggest the leaders of the Houthi organization to see, to understand and remember, whoever raises a hand against the state of Israel, his hand will be cut off. Whoever harms us will be harmed sevenfold,” said Israel Katz, the defense minister.

Israel would “strike with force,” Katz said, and “not allow the continuation of this situation of shooting and threats against the state of Israel.”

The statement followed a series of intense Israeli airstrikes that shook Sanaa and Hodeidah early Thursday and killed at least nine people, officials said, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel and badly damaged a school building.