Hours after being hit by Israeli strikes | the civilian section of Damascus International Airport returns to service
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) sources reported that Damascus International Airport was partially and incompletely reopened after it was stopped and works suspended for hours following Israeli strikes at dawn today, which targeted Hezbollah posts inside and around the airport.
According to sources, the runway for the transportation of civilians is back in service, while the runway for shipping, emergency and the transport of Iranian VIPs and militia leaders remains out of service until the moment.
The strikes hit a weapons depot and a building, killing four members, including two Syrians, and putting the airport out of service.
This is the second time that Damascus International Airport has been out of service by Israeli strikes, as the airport was put out of service previously on June 10, 2023, after being hit by Israeli missiles.
This dawn, SOHR activists reported that violent explosions were heard in the early hours on Monday morning in different areas of the capital Damascus and its environs, caused by a new Israeli attack on Syrian territory, marking the first attack in 2023.
An Israeli aircraft carried out airstrikes on Lebanese Hezbollah and IRGC militia sites in the vicinity and south of the capital, Damascus, amid the failure of the regime air defence system to counter Israeli missiles.
According to Syrian Observatory sources, Israeli missiles hit their targets and successive violent explosions have been heard in the target locations, causing severe material damage only.
It is worth noting that weapons and ammunition depots of Lebanese Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards are present in the targeted areas.
In 2022, SOHR documented 32 airstrikes and ground rocket attacks, during which Israel targeted several positions in Syria, destroying nearly 91 targets, including buildings, warehouses, headquarters, centres, and vehicles. These strikes killed one civilian and 89 combatants and injured 121 others. The fatalities are distributed as follows:
Two Iranian officers of Al-Quds Corps.
11 Iranian-backed Syrian militiamen.
29 Iranian-backed non-Syrian militiamen.
36 regime officers and members of the regime’s air defences.
11 Syrian and non-Syrian militiamen working for the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The foreman in the cargo department of the ground treatment service in Damascus airport.
Those attacks also left 23 civilians, including a little girl and three women at least, injured.
Meanwhile the attacks are distributed regionally as follows:
Damascus and Rif Dimashq: 18 attacks.
Al-Quneitera: five attacks.
Hama: four attacks.
Tartus: two attacks.
Aleppo: two attacks.
Homs: two attacks.
Latakia: one attack.
Deir Ezzor: one attack.