First international flight since Assad's ouster touches down in Syria

Qatar airways has restarted flights to Damascus, after an almost 13 year pause.

A Qatar airways flight touched down at Damascus international airport on Tuesday; on board were nationals returning after years abroad.

It marks the first commercial flight to the airport since Islamist-led forces ousted Bashar al-Assad in December.

International aid planes and diplomatic delegations had already been travelling to the country and domestic flights had also picked up.

Also on Tuesday, Syria’s new foreign minister made a trip to Jordan to meet with his counterpart in the capital.

According to the Jordanian foreign ministry, the aim of the meeting was to discuss co operation in areas including security, energy, transportation and trade.

Subject to western sanctions, Syria is grappling with an economic crisis and residents only have access to a few hours of state supplied electricity each day.