Hopes for a new Syria take flight

ALEPPO - Shortly before the first domestic flight since Bashar Assad's fall landed at Aleppo International Airport late Wednesday morning, the final preparations were still being made. Workers rushed to remove about a dozen empty ammunition boxes, gas masks and helmets from a grassy patch next to the runway.

When the Syrian Air flight from Damascus, the Syrian capital, landed, more than an hour behind schedule, it was greeted by a large crowd of journalists and a phalanx of security personnel, including military police officers and civil defense workers, standing by in case anything went wrong.

But its arrival was otherwise smooth - a sign, the rebels who ousted Assad as president 10 days ago hope, that Syria's new transitional government will be able to run the country. They want to prove they can provide Syrians with basic services, including domestic and...