ISTANBUL, June 3, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said flights by Syria's national carrier to Turkey would start "soon".

"Syrian Airlines will soon start flights to Turkey," he said in a post on X, without saying when they would happen.

He also said he hoped Turkey's AJet would "hopefully be able to operate regular flights to Syria."

AJet is a budget subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, Turkey's national carrier, which itself began flights to Damascus in January, six weeks after the toppling of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian Airlines -- the country's flag carrier which was formerly known as SyrianAir -- was hit by a barrage of Western sanctions imposed after the war began in 2011.

It was not immediately clear when the Syrian airline last operated a route to Turkey.

Last month, Washington and Brussels lifted economic sanctions on Syria, allowing the government and private sector to reconnect with regional and international financial institutions after years of isolation.

Authorities hope the move will pave the way for economic recovery in the war-torn country and help attract foreign investment, including in the energy sector.

Still speaking about Syria, Erdogan pledged Turkey would announce "good news regarding energy very soon" without giving further details.

Last week, Syria signed a $7 billion energy deal with a consortium of Qatari, Turkish and US companies.

The project, which includes four gas-powered plants in central and eastern Syria and a 1,000-megawatt solar farm in the south, aims to generate 5,000 megawatts.