DAMASCUS, Syria: Israeli strikes on Aleppo airport in northern Syria caused the grounding of flights on Monday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.
“At about 4:30 am (0130 GMT) this morning, the Israeli enemy undertook an aerial aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport,” the source said, adding that this resulted in damage to the airport runway.
Israel’s air raid damaged runway of Aleppo airport and took it out of service, Syrian state media said. According to SANA news agency, the missile attacks took place early in the morning.
Citing a military source, SANA said Israel “carried out an air attack from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport”. It added the raid “caused material damage” to the airport and “put it out of service”.
The city of Aleppo suffered widespread destruction in Syria’s war. It was again heavily damaged in the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit northwestern Syria and southern Turkey last month. A number of countries have since sent aid shipments to the city’s airport.
A statement by the Syrian transport ministry said all scheduled flights, including those carrying humanitarian aid, would be rerouted to Damascus and Latakia after the “Israeli aggression”. There was no comment from Israel.
For almost a decade, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against suspected Iranian-sponsored weapons transfers and personnel deployments in neighbouring Syria, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. —AFP/Monitoring
