Damascus airport to reopen ‘in next few days’: Director

Damascus airport, closed since opposition forces overran the Syrian capital at the weekend, is to reopen “in the next few days,” its director Anis Fallouh said on Wednesday.

“God willing, the airport will reopen as quickly as possible because we are going to work flat out,” Fallouh said.

Pushed to give a timeframe for the reopening, he said it ought to happen “in the next few days.”

“We can quickly let aircraft resume flights through Syrian airspace, which has been closed,” he added.

An AFP correspondent saw armed opposition fighters deployed around the airport.

Soldiers and security agents of the ousted government of Bashar al-Assad fled as the opposition coalition entered Damascus early on Sunday.

The ousted president had flown out shortly beforehand, Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Aircraft maintenance official Samer Radi said there were currently 12 aircraft on the ground, one of which had been stripped of its equipment by unknown looters during the opposition takeover.