SOHR: Syria reports second Israel attack on Aleppo airport in week

An Israeli air attack on Syria’s Aleppo airport has damaged the runway and taken the airport out of service.

The Israel missile attack was launched from the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 8:16 pm local time (1716 GMT), the Syrian regime Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

It is the second reported Israeli strike on the airport in northern Syria in less than a week.

Syrian SANA news agency said earlier that the regime’s air defences had intercepted some missiles, and reported material damage.

Syria’s private airline Cham Wings announced that all flights to and from Aleppo would be routed to the capital Damascus due to the strikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said several explosions were heard near Aleppo airport, “resulting from Israeli strikes on warehouses of Iran-affiliated militias”.

SOHR said at least two missiles destroyed the depots, causing a fire and “heavy material damage”.

On Wednesday last week, SANA said Israeli strikes hit Aleppo airport, causing “some material damage”.

Israeli attacks in Syria

Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Tehran’s increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon including Hezbollah, regional diplomatic and intelligence sources told the Reuters news agency.

Tehran has adopted air transport as a more reliable means of ferrying military equipment to its forces and allied fighters in Syria, following disruptions to ground transfers.

Last week’s attack damaged Aleppo airport just before the arrival of a plane from Iran, a commander in an Iran-backed regional alliance who was familiar with the incident told Reuters.

Since the civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its northern neighbour, targeting regime troops as well as allied Iran-backed militias and Hezbollah fighters.

While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of them.

The Israeli military has defended such action as necessary to prevent arch-enemy Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.