(Damascus) Several Israeli strikes on Wednesday targeted Aleppo airport in northern Syria and the suburbs of Damascus, the official Syrian news agency Sana said, reporting material damage.
Posted yesterday at 3:02 p.m.
“At around 8 p.m. (1700 GMT), the Israeli enemy fired missiles at Aleppo International Airport, which caused material damage in the airport,” according to Sana.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) for its part reported “three Israeli missiles” having targeted warehouses containing arms and ammunition from the Iranian militias present around the airport, and “a fourth missile” fell inside the airport.
The runway was not damaged at all, says the OSDH, unlike the warehouses.
And the NGO added that Russian forces present at Aleppo airport had been informed beforehand of these strikes, as evidenced by their state of alert 10 minutes before.
According to the London-based NGO, which has an extensive network of sources in Syria, these strikes triggered fires and explosions, without causing any casualties.
More than an hour after the attack at the airport, the “Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack with several missiles from Lake Tiberias […] targeting positions southeast of the city of Damascus,” Sana said, citing material damage.
Syrian air defenses were able to intercept some missiles, Sana adds.
On August 25, a series of Israeli strikes “among the most violent” against positions of Iranian militias caused victims in the vicinity of the cities of Hama and Tartous (center and west), according to the OSDH.
Sana had mentioned two civilians injured in these shootings.
In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, targeting regime positions as well as Iranian-backed allied forces and fighters from the pro-Iranian Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah.
Syria’s neighbor Israel rarely comments on the strikes on a case-by-case basis, but has admitted to carrying out hundreds since 2011. The Israeli military has defended them as necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.