Syria: Aleppo airport damaged by Israeli strike

Aleppo airport, in northern Syria, was hit on Wednesday at dawn by an Israeli strike which caused material damage, for the second time since the beginning of the month, the Syrian ministry of security said. defense. The airport was used in particular to transport international humanitarian aid to Aleppo, hard hit by the earthquake which on February 6 devastated several regions of Syria and Turkey, a neighboring country.

“At around 03:55 (00:55 Paris time), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial assault with several missiles from the Mediterranean, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport“, added the Ministry of Defense. The ministry quoted a military source reporting material damage, without mentioning casualties. The first findings haverevealed material damage in the airport compound“, told AFP Souleiman Khalil, who did not specify if he had been put out of service. “Israeli planes targeted inside Aleppo International Airport and an Iranian militia weapons depot near the airport, completely destroying it“Said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).

Second attack of the month

This is the second time that Aleppo airport has been targeted by Israel in March, with the last such raid killing three on March 7 and putting the airport out of service, according to the UK-based OSDH. United and which has an extensive network of sources in Syria More than 80 planes loaded with humanitarian aid have landed at this airport since the earthquake, which killed nearly 6,000 people in Syria, according to the Ministry of Transport. Aleppo airport, the second largest in the country, had already remained closed for three days after an Israeli strike in September, according to official sources.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, targeting regime positions as well as Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces, allies of Damascus and sworn enemies of Israel. Israel, a neighbor of Syria, rarely comments on strikes on a case-by-case basis, but says it wants to prevent Iran from establishing itself on its doorstep.