Qatar is planning to help finance a massive boost in public sector wages promised by Syria's new government, a U.S. official and a senior diplomat said, vital assistance to the new Islamist rulers in Damascus a month after they toppled Bashar al-Assad.

Syria’s new foreign minister has met with his Qatari counterpart and Qatar’s prime minister in Doha on Sunday.

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

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

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.

Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani arrived in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday, marking his first visit to the Gulf country. Shaibani is accompanied by Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and intelligence chief Anas Khattab during the visit,

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy, told reporters that “good progress” had been made toward a deal that would free Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

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.

Damascus International Airport resumed international operations on Tuesday, with respective flights to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and from Qatar. The first flight departed on Tuesday morning for Sharjah,

A Qatar Airways plane became the first to land at Damascus airport since the ousting of the government of former President Bashar al-Assad last month, as Syria’s interim leaders hope to reassert a semblance of normalcy in the country.