The government in Damascus touts the reopening of the gathering after a six-year delay as a sign of life getting back to normal in Syria. Many countries have ceased calling for him to step down.

The fair is hosting companies from 23 countries that have maintained diplomatic relations with Damascus throughout the conflict.

The Damascus International Fair was once the leading event on Syria's economic calendar, but had not been held since shortly after the outbreak of the country's war in March 2011.

Following months of steady military advances, Syria's government has sought to portray itself as the victor in a war that is winding down, and is looking ahead to reconstruction.

This year's fair opened on Thursday, and was scheduled to last 10 days.

Five people were killed Sunday, according to an NGO when a rocket landed near the entrance of the global Fair of Damascus, inaugurated this week after an absence of five years due to the war in Syria.

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The city is proud of Jefferson's university, a prestigious school with graduates that include prominent figures such as Robert F. For many Australians, the surprise lies not in the outrage at the statue's removal, but at the existence of the monument at all.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported the attack.

It also cited casualties but gave no details.

Fighters in the area have regularly fired rockets into the capital, and government warplanes have frequently carried out devastating raids across Eastern Ghouta.

Ties have remained severed throughout the brutal civil war that followed, which has since killed more than 330,000 people. The conflict has since killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced half the country's population.

The United States and most European countries shut their Damascus embassies following a government crackdown on protesters in 2011. According to them, several wounded people are in critical condition.