ALEPPO: Israeli airstrikes have targeted the airport in the government-held city of Aleppo, Syria, injuring five people, according to a war monitor. This comes just days after similar strikes hit Aleppo and Damascus airports.
Syria’s defence ministry has also confirmed the strikes, reporting that the airport has been temporarily rendered out of service.
“The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, which led to material damage to the airport and it being out of service,” the ministry stated.
Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the strikes but did not specify whether the injured individuals were civilians.
The Syrian defence ministry criticized Israel, accusing it of having a “criminal approach” and committing “crimes against the Palestinian people.”
This attack follows Israeli strikes on Syria’s two main airports in Damascus and Aleppo on Thursday, which were knocked out of service. It was the first such attack since the Hamas assault on Israel, which triggered intense fighting.
Saturday’s strikes hit Aleppo airport just hours after it had returned to service but knocked it out of service again. Israel shelled Syria earlier on Saturday in response to air raid sirens in settlements on the annexed Golan Heights.
The Syrian Observatory reported that Israel retaliated after Palestinian factions working with Hezbollah launched a rocket from southern Syria toward the occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli airstrikes have frequently disrupted flights at airports in Damascus and Aleppo, both controlled by the Syrian government, during more than a decade of conflict in Syria. These strikes have primarily targeted Iran-backed forces, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, and Syrian army positions.
Israel seldom comments on individual strikes in Syria but has consistently expressed its opposition to Iran’s expansion in the region, as Iran supports the Syrian government.
These attacks on Aleppo represent the second such incident on Syrian airports following Hamas’s unexpected attack from Gaza on October 7, which ignited a conflict resulting in over 1,300 casualties in Israel and over 2,200 in Gaza, with a significant number of them being civilians on both sides.
