An Israeli airstrike hit the international airport of Aleppo (north), Syria’s second city, early Monday morning for the fourth time since the beginning of the year, putting it out of service, according to official Syrian media.
“Around 4:30 a.m. (0130 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from the Mediterranean, west of Latakia, against Aleppo International Airport,” the official Sana news agency said, quoting a statement. military sources.
An official from the Syrian Ministry of Transport, Sleiman Khalil, told AFP that the only runway in useable condition had been damaged.
“Technical teams will start repairs today so that the airport can become operational again as soon as possible,” he added. The flights were diverted to airports in Damascus, the capital, and Latakia (west), according to him.
Since the beginning of the war in Syria, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian territory targeting mainly the forces supported by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, allies of Damascus and sworn enemies of Israel, as well as the army Syrian.
Israel, a neighboring country of Syria, rarely comments on the strikes in Syria but says it wants to prevent Iran from establishing itself on its doorstep.
Asked by AFP, an Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on Monday: “We do not comment on foreign media reports,” he said.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), the strikes on Monday targeted, in addition to Aleppo airport, “arms depots” in the nearby Nayrab military airfield.
Israel “threatens the freedom of movement of aircraft” and “the security of international civil aviation”, accused the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement released by Sana, calling the attack “cowardly”.
The Aleppo region and the airport have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli raids since the beginning of the year.
In early May, four Syrian soldiers and three foreign fighters from pro-Iranian groups were killed in strikes that then targeted Aleppo airport and other targets, including an arms depot at Nayrab airfield, according to the OSDH.
In March, Israeli strikes twice put Aleppo airport out of service. On March 7, three people were killed in a raid on the airport.
Two weeks later, strikes targeted the airport and arms depots of pro-Iranian groups in its surroundings, killing four according to the OSDH, based in the United Kingdom and which has an extensive network of sources. in Syria.
Iran-backed militias have a strong presence in the Aleppo region and provided essential ground support to the Syrian army during the recapture of rebel-held areas of the city in 2016.
The war in Syria, sparked in 2011 by the crackdown on pro-democracy protests, has claimed more than half a million lives and displaced several million people.
28/08/2023 16:48:33 – Checkers (AFP) – © 2023 AFP