ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Travelers will have to wait a while longer to fly between Iraq and Syria, the latter's transportation ministry announced on Saturday — three days after Iraqi Airways had announced it would resume flights between Baghdad and Damascus.
The Syrian Ministry of Transportation said in a Facebook post it had been informed of the "decision to postpone the trip of two Iraqi Airways planes today... until further notice."
The Iraqi Embassy notified the Syrian foreign ministry that "the completion of some administrative and organizational steps between the company and the Syrian civil aviation" authority is needed before flights can resume.
On Thursday, AFP reported that Iraqi Airways spokesman Layth al-Rubaie had said that the airline would operate weekly flights from Baghdad to Damascus starting on Saturday. The Syrian transportation ministry also announced the resumption on its Facebook page.
Citing bilateral trade, tourism and "the size of the Iraqi community living in Syria," Rubaie said the resumption of flights was "important."
The last commercial flight between Baghdad and Damascus was in December 2011, Rubaie told AFP. As conflict in Syria erupted the flight route was ended and many airlines chose to stop flying over the country.
Iran has been a primary backer of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Some Arab League countries have encouraged the Syrian Arab Republic to return to its prominence in the organization and in the Arab world.
Central Damascus has been spared much of the violence of the Syrian conflict that was compounded by the rise and demise of the Islamic State (ISIS) from late-2013 to early-2019. According to UN figures nearly 400,000 people have been killed due to conflict in Syria.
The delay in resumption of flights between the two Middle Eastern neighbors comes as tensions are escalating between Iran and the United States with the latter ordering all non-emergency government employees to leave its embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil on Wednesday.
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