Mohammad Sio, Serdar Dincel and Rania Abushamala
09 April 2026•Update: 09 April 2026
Syria, Iraq and Bahrain announced the reopening of their airspace Wednesday following the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, according to civil aviation authorities.
Omar Hosari, the head of Syria’s General Authority for Civil Aviation and Air Transport, announced that all previously closed air corridors have been reopened and air traffic across Syrian airspace has resumed.
Operations at Damascus International Airport have returned to normal, with flights arriving and departing according to approved schedules and in compliance with international safety standards, he added in comments carried by the SANA news agency.
Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority of Iraq confirmed the reopening of the country’s airspace, according to the Iraqi News Agency.
The Bahraini state news agency BNA also said the Civil Aviation Affairs Department at the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications announced the reopening of the country’s airspace after a temporary closure taken as a precautionary measure in light of regional developments.
According to the agency, the aviation authority stressed its commitment to ensuring the smooth flow of air traffic in line with the highest safety and security standards, in continuous coordination with relevant authorities, to safeguard aviation and passengers.
The decisions follow weeks of closure imposed as a precaution amid escalating regional conflict, with officials repeatedly citing security risks to civilian aviation.
US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he agreed “to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”
The announcement came less than two hours before a deadline Trump had set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept an agreement or face what he described as the destruction of “an entire civilization.”
Regional tensions escalated since the US and Israel launched an offensive against Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,400 people to date, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian authorities have not updated the toll in recent days.
Tehran retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel as well as Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets. It has also restricted the movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
