Emirates suspends flights to Damascus

Dubai’s Emirates has suspended its flights to and from Damascus until further notice, the airline said in a statement on its website on Thursday. The carrier said its two daily flights to Syria were suspended with immediate effect. The decision comes as fierce battles between regime force and rebels took place just outside of the capital forcing the closure of the main airport road. Emirates has said the safety of passengers and crew was its “priority”. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways on August 30 of this year. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fighting along the road to the airport, southeast of Damascus, was heavier in that area that at any other time in the 20-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Residents said Internet connections in the capital went down in the early afternoon and mobile and land telephone lines were only working intermittently, in what they said was the worst disruption to communication since conflict erupted last year. Meanwhile, in Aleppo a government airstrike on two buildings killed at least 15 civilians, including five children and two women, according to the Observatory. From : Gulfnews