DAMASCUS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The highway linking Syrian capital Damascus to the central region reopened on Tuesday after years of closure due to the war, according to the state news agency SANA.
The road opened after the northern entrance of Damascus was rehabilitated following the liberation of the Eastern Ghouta countryside of the Damascus from the rebels.
The road that has been opened stretches 17 km long linking the northern entrance of Damascus to the Baghdad Bridge on the way to Homs.
During the rebels' presence in Eastern Ghouta, which is overlooking the road between 2012 and 2018, the travelers used to take a longer route through the al-Tal area, but it was not an official highway because it was exposed to the rebels' snipers and was called "the road of death."
After their full withdrawal from Eastern Ghouta, which ended in April, rehabilitation work on the road started.
The extension of the road between the central provinces of Homs and Hama is also being rehabilitated as the Syrian army entered the southern countryside of Hama province after the recent withdrawal of the rebels toward rebel-held areas in northern Syria.
The highway used to connect Damascus with Homs, Hama and Aleppo province in northern Syria.
After the recent achievements in dislodging the rebels from Eastern Ghouta, the northern countryside of Homs and the southern countryside of Hama, travelers to Aleppo will be able to travel more easily but they will have to make a turn to a sub-route between Hama and Aleppo, as the original road also passes through the countryside of Idlib province in northwestern Syria, which is still under the rebels' control.
