TASS, February 19. A passenger plane has landed at the airport of Syria’s Aleppo for the first time in eight years, SANA news agency reported Wednesday.

The flight arrived in Aleppo from Damascus.

On Monday, Syria’s Al Ikhbariya TV reported that Aleppo’s airport was resuming operations after a lengthy break, citing Syrian Transport Minister Ali Hammoud.

The vicious battle for Aleppo, second-most important city in Syria and its economic capital, began in 2012 and lasted more than four years until 2016. In September 2015, Russia launched a military offensive against militants in Syria, Russian Aerospace forces started carrying out strikes on terrorist groups. In mid-November 2016, the Syrian army launched an offensive and took control over east Aleppo. The city had been fully recaptured by mid-December. Since then, Aleppo has been carrying out works to restore the infrastructure destroyed by war and fighting.