DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities have taken over management of Qamishli airport as part of an ongoing process to integrate Kurdish-led forces and institutions into national government, state media reported on Saturday.

The SANA news agency, citing the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, said officials had toured the facility on Saturday after assuming control and “discussed mechanisms to restart its operations”.

The head of the authority, Omar al-Husari, said on X that taking over the airport was “an important institutional step in the process of unifying the management of airports under the umbrella of the state”.

The Kurds — who controlled much of northeast Syria before striking the integration deal under military pressure from the government — had taken over the airport following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad just over a year ago.

While it was not open to civilian flights, Russia had used part of the facility as a base before withdrawing last month.

Qamishli is the only airport in northeastern Syria, and for years served as a lifeline for the region’s residents, particularly during nearly 14 years of civil war beginning in 2011, during which there were regular flights between it and Damascus.

The airport had remained under the government’s control during the war, and continued to receive flights up until Assad’s overthrow.

In November 2019, Russian forces turned the airport into a military base to oversee the implementation of an agreement that followed Turkiye’s large-scale offensive against Kurdish fighters.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2026