Israeli airstrikes on Syria targeted the Aleppo airport early Monday morning, knocking it out of service, Syria’s SANA news agency reported.
"At about 4:30 a.m. on Monday, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial act of aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Lattakia, targeting Aleppo Airport," a military source told SANA.
No casualties were reported in the attack, but the source said it caused material damage to the airport runway, putting it out of service. The strikes mark the fifth time since September 2022 that Israeli airstrikes shut down the Aleppo airport and the fourth time this year.
Aleppo was devastated by the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6, and the city’s airport became a vital channel for aid. But that did not stop Israeli attacks. Israeli airstrikes put the Aleppo airport out of commission twice in March and again in May.
Monday’s airstrikes marked at least the 23rd time that Israel bombed Syria this year. The last known strike hit targets near Damascus on August 21, wounding at least one Syrian soldier.
Earlier this year, Israeli Defense Yoav Gallant said that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled airstrikes in Syria since it came to power at the end of December 2022. Israel frames its airstrikes in Syria as operations against Iran and Hezbollah, but the attacks often kill Syrians and damage civilian infrastructure.
Photo: A man walks at Aleppo international airport after it was reopened for the first time in years, Syria February 19, 2020. © Reuters
Source: Antiwar.
