Commercial flights between Turkey and Syria have resumed after 13 years with a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Damascus

The first Turkish Airlines flight in 13 years landed in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, an AFP correspondent reported. The plane arrived from Istanbul carrying aid and 345 passengers, including Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi and Turkish officials, the correspondent said.

Turkey has emerged as one of the most influential power brokers in Syria after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad last month, ending his family's brutal five-decade rule. NATO member Turkey is now in a position to influence its neighbour's future diplomatically,

No country has as much to gain from a stable Syria as Turkey, and few have as much to lose if it implodes. Turkey is home to more than 3m Syrian refugees, and wants Syria to be safe enough for many to return.

Syria's interim rulers are trying to form a united national army after the fall of Bashar Assad late last year.

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Turkish Airlines will resume its flights to Damascus, Syria, next week after a halt of more than a decade, officials said Wednesday following a visit by a delegation of Syria’s new, Turkey-backed rulers.

A rightist ally of President Erdogan, Devlet Bahceli of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party, this week openly questioned Greece’s sovereignty over the islands of the southeastern Aegean. In so doing Mr. Bahceli challenges the provisions of international laws and agreements such as the 1923 Lausanne Treaty.

Turkey is ready to provide support to the new Syrian administration for the management of Islamic State camps in the country, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan underscored the need to grant Syria's new administration the opportunity to confront the issue of Kurdish militants operating within its borders. He emphasised that Turkish forces would not hesitate to act decisively should this matter remain unresolved.

Saudi Arabia and others are overlooking the new leadership’s jihadist past, hoping to gain an advantage on rivals in the strategically positioned country.

Syria's foreign minister said he would visit Turkey on Wednesday on the first official trip to the country since Islamist-backed rebels toppled president Bashar al-Assad last month.