Qamishli International Airport has long been seen as the “lung” through which al-Hasakah governorate (northeastern Syria) breathes. Since its establishment, it has been the only transport artery linking Syria’s far northeast to the capital Damascus and to the outside world.
Today, the airport is back in the spotlight, not as a military base or a flashpoint, but as a marker of a new phase aimed at unifying the management of Syrian airspace under a single institutional framework, after decades of political and military upheaval.
Establishment and capacity
Qamishli Airport is located on the southern edge of Qamishli (northeastern Syria, near the Turkish border). It began operating as a key facility in the 1970s.
As economic and social needs grew in Syria’s Jazira region (northeastern Syria), an area rich in oil and wheat, the airport underwent rehabilitation and expansion. It was declared an “international airport” in 2003, with the aim of receiving international flights and easing pressure on the airports of Damascus and Aleppo.
The airport holds a strategic position close to the Turkish border and has a runway about 3,600 meters long, enabling it to receive various types of aircraft, including large cargo planes and military transport aircraft.
Under normal conditions, its capacity reaches hundreds of thousands of passengers annually, before its functions shifted drastically after the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011.
From a “lifeline for the regime” to a Russian base
During the war years, Qamishli Airport turned from a civilian facility into a military “stronghold” for Syria’s former regime.
As the regime lost control of land routes leading to al-Hasakah, the airport became the only way to supply its forces inside what was known as the “security square” in Qamishli and al-Hasakah with weapons, ammunition, and food.
In late 2019, the airport underwent a turning point in its military identity. After a partial U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria and Turkey’s “Operation Peace Spring,” Russian forces entered the airport and turned it into an air base.
Russia deployed air defense systems and helicopter and combat aircraft at the airport, using it as a launch point for patrols in the region and as a tool to project influence east of the Euphrates River and compete with the U.S. presence.
Transfer of control: SDF track and return to the state
For years, the airport remained a complex point of contact: former regime de facto control inside its perimeter, a heavy Russian presence, and full encirclement of its surroundings by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
With recent field developments, and after the fall of the former Syrian regime on 8 December 2024, control of the airport partially shifted to the SDF and its affiliated units under security arrangements imposed by the new reality. The Russian presence continued until more recent developments, namely the Syrian government’s control over parts of al-Hasakah governorate after it took control of Raqqa governorate (northern Syria) and the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor governorate (eastern Syria). This prompted a full Russian withdrawal from Qamishli Airport to Hmeimim Air Base (on Syria’s coast, in Latakia governorate).
The situation did not stop there. Under the latest understandings between the Syrian government and the SDF, an “institutional” track began to return the airport to the national civil administration.
A sovereign and development step
In a statement reflecting the direction of this phase, Omar Hosari, head of the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, described taking over the airport as “a pivotal sovereign and development step.”
Hosari said on X that the goal is to reconnect the northeast to the national aviation system and unify airspace management within an institutional framework that supports aviation safety and economic development.
In implementation of these understandings, formal handover procedures began with the arrival of a high-level delegation at the airport, including Amjad Nakhal, deputy head of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, and Brigadier General Marwan al-Ali, the Internal Security commander in al-Hasakah, to launch official operational procedures.
Future prospects
Qamishli Airport’s importance today is not limited to transport. It is increasingly viewed as a real test of Syrians’ ability to manage sovereignty and public services away from the language of arms.
Reopening the airport as a civilian gateway would ease the hardship faced by thousands of civilians, students, and patients who were forced into exhausting journeys. It could also open the door to an economic revival in a region that has long suffered from marginalization and isolation.
Between its past as a military base and its present as a national facility, Qamishli Airport remains a witness to major shifts on Syria’s map, awaiting the first flights that could bring greater stability to the Jazira region.
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