The U.S. flag has been hoisted outside of the long-shuttered ambassador’s residence in Damascus. It's a sign of growing ties between Washington and the new Syrian government.

Washington has yet to formally reopen its embassy in Syria, which closed in 2012 after protests the government of strongman President Bashar al-Assad was met with brutal crackdown, kickstarting the country’s civil war.

The U.S. envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, raised the American flag over the ambassador's residence in Damascus on Thursday for the first time since the embassy closed in 2012, a year after conflict broke out.