ERIC DEGGANS, HOST:
It's been almost a month since rebels conducted a lightning campaign across Syria, toppling the Assad regime and ending nearly 15 years of war. Now they've got to rebuild the country. To grasp the challenges, NPR's Diaa Hadid went to one key part of Syria that's struggling to take off.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: It's hard to imagine a quiet airport. But here we are at Damascus International Airport, where the planes...
(SOUNDBITE OF TAPPING ON PLANE)
HADID: ...They're grounded.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Laughter).
HADID: The staff take selfies with the planes.
(LAUGHTER)
HADID: It's such a novelty because even during years of war, Damascus Airport was busy.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Put your own mask on before helping others.
HADID: And a budget airline called Cham Wings even ran an advert - come see the moon in Damascus.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language).
HADID: It was a lure for adventure travelers like Jordan Simons.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JORDAN SIMONS: Governments around the world advise against all travel.
HADID: In a video posted five years ago, he seemed surprised that the airport was ordinary.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMONS: This could be anywhere in the world.
HADID: But really, it was a split-scene reality. On one side, airport Wi-Fi and duty-free. On the other, sanctions on Syria that prevented planes from reaching Western destinations. Officials couldn't legally buy spare parts for their planes made in the U.S. and Europe. And occasionally, the airport was forced to shut down after Israeli bombardments.
When we visited the airport earlier this week, we walk in over a carpet that Syria's new rulers put down for visitors to wipe their shoes. It's emblazoned with the face of the former ruler, Bashar al-Assad. As you might imagine, it's a stinging insult.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
HADID: Upstairs, we meet airport director Anis Fallouh. He is working on getting the airport back up and running.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEEPING)
HADID: We want to ask him why flights are still grounded because since the rebels took over, there's only been a single test flight from Damascus to the northern city of Aleppo. Fallouh is reluctant to talk about the problems. But he says, even during the old Assad regime, the airport only had what he calls modest capabilities.
ANIS FALLOUH: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says, "the goal now is to resume operations at that modest baseline with the help of regional countries" - regional countries like Turkey. Their transport minister visited the airport last month and appeared to be shocked by what he found. Abdulkadir Uraloglu told media that the radar systems were destroyed, and air traffic controllers were using a mobile app to manage air traffic.
ABDULKADIR URALOGLU: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says, "pilots were even flying to Damascus by relying just on visual conditions."
URALOGLU: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: And two people who have experience in the aviation sector told NPR, it was even worse than that. They requested anonymity so they and their families wouldn't be punished for speaking out. On three separate occasions, the landing gear jammed while planes were descending, and pilots risked getting out of control on the runway. They said pilots manually released the landing gear, averting disaster.
(SOUNDBITE OF BANG)
HADID: The general manager of Syria's National Airlines and who also oversees airport operation says, those allegations aren't true. Hatem Kabas asks we don't use his voice. It's a tense time here, and he's worried that clips of his audio might be manipulated to harm him. He says planes were routinely checked for safety in Syria and when they landed in regional countries.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
HADID: Back at the airport, I walk through scrub, where old planes are decaying. It reminds me no regime change in this region has led to a successful democratic state, whether through the revolutions of the Arab Spring or by U.S.-led invasion.
CHARLES KUPCHAN: We don't have a lot of good lessons to draw on. We have a lot of bad lessons.
HADID: Charles Kupchan is at the Council on Foreign Relations. He's written on the challenges of rebuilding Syria. So far, he says, Syria's new ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has taken the right steps by asking government servants to return to work. Sharaa also says he doesn't want to dismantle the state, which, for instance, led to disaster in Iraq.
KUPCHAN: But fasten your seat belt.
HADID: Kupchan says a key problem is that the Muslim rebel group that Sharaa leads, HTS, or Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Separately, there are sanctions imposed on Syria to punish the former Assad regime.
KUPCHAN: The challenge here will be to create a government that enjoys international legitimacy.
HADID: Kupchan says, that way, Western governments and global institutions can pour in the money that Syria needs to rebuild. He says they have to do that fast. Some regional countries are stepping in. Turkey already says it will help rebuild the transport sector. The Gulf state of Qatar just announced they'd resume flights to Damascus next week. And with planes - civilian planes - once again, flying over Damascus, Syrians might feel like they've inched a little closer to a functional state.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Damascus. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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