Syria reopens highway to public after eight years

DAMASCUS, Syria — The highway that links the Syrian capital with the northern city of Aleppo is open for public use for the first time in nearly eight years after government forces recently captured parts of it that had been held by insurgents, the transportation minister said Saturday.

The reopening of the M5 highway came as another Turkish soldier was killed in northwestern Syria in shelling by government forces, according to Turkish state media.

The full control of the highway known as the M5 by government forces earlier this month marked one of the biggest prizes for President Bashar Assad in the nearly nine-year conflict.

Transport Minister Ali Hammoud said in remarks carried by state media that the highway is open to the public, adding that work has started on the railway leading to Aleppo and it should return to business in the coming months.

The opening of the highway reduces the trip between Damascus and Aleppo by 56 miles compared with the desert road that had been in use over the past years, state news agency SANA said.

The M5 is a strategic highway that starts in southern Syria, near the border with Jordan, and runs all the way north to the city of Aleppo near the Turkish border.

The 280-mile highway links the country’s four largest cities and population centers: Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo, cutting through Idlib province.

Syrian government forces have been on the offensive in Idlib and parts of Aleppo province, the last remaining rebel stronghold in the country, since early December, capturing dozens of towns and villages from insurgents.

Assad gradually lost control of the M5 starting in 2012, when various rebel groups fighting to topple him began seizing parts of the country.