Turkey’s national airline announced on Thursday that it has restarted flights to Damascus, the capital of Syria, after a hiatus of almost 13 years, as reported by the Anadolu news agency.
Anadolu noted that a flight carrying 349 passengers departed from Istanbul International Airport bound for Damascus on Thursday morning, marking the first such service since April 2012.
According to official statistics, Turkey hosts approximately 3 million Syrian refugees, making it the country that has welcomed the highest number of Syrian refugees worldwide.
Many Syrians are returning to their homeland for the first time since the overthrow of long-time leader Bashar al-Assad in early December, as reported by Anadolu.
“I feel like I’m in a dream,” Anadolu reported passenger Ahmet Kiraz saying. Having lived in Turkey since 2012, he expressed that he had lost hope of ever returning to Syria.
Turkish Airlines halted direct flights to its neighboring country following the outbreak of the civil war that began in 2011.
The airline had previously indicated plans to operate three flights per week to Damascus. A spokesperson for the company stated that further details would be shared later in the day.
