The Syrian Ministry of Defense said that an Israeli air “aggression” led to the Aleppo International Airport being out of service, Monday, while regional intelligence sources said that an Iranian weapons depot had been bombed.
Syrian military source said, “The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean, west of Lattakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, and the aggression caused material damage to the airport’s runway and put it out of service”.
Two regional intelligence sources said that the attack targeted an underground munitions depot run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the vicinity of the Nayrab military airport near Aleppo airport.
They said that the Nairab military airport, which was used permanently for the delivery of Iranian weapons and the movement of forces, was subjected more than once in the past to Israeli bombing.
Over the past years, Israel launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria, targeting Syrian army sites and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah targets, including weapons and ammunition depots in separate areas.
The Israeli strikes repeatedly took the international airports of Aleppo and Damascus out of service, after targeting them.
The Syrian military source said, “At around 4:30 AM (1:30 GMT) this morning (Monday), the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean, west of Lattakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, which only caused material damage to the airport’s runway and put it out of service”.
The damage was concentrated, according to what Suleiman Khalil, the readiness official at the Ministry of Transport.
The Syrian Ministry of Transport explained, the runway is damaged and maintenance teams will start repair operations today to return the airport to service as soon as possible.
Scheduled flights were diverted to Damascus and Lattakia airports, according to the Syrian Ministry of Transport.
In early May, Aleppo airport went out of service as a result of a similar Israeli bombardment, which also targeted al Nairab airport and a weapons depot in al Safira area, which is under the influence of pro-Tehran groups in Aleppo governorate.
At that time, the bombing near al Nairab airport killed four Syrian soldiers and three non-Syrian fighters loyal to Iran.
Last March, the facility was out of service twice as a result of Israeli bombing, on the seventh of which three people were killed, including a Syrian officer.
Again, on March 22, Israel targeted a weapons depot belonging to pro-Tehran groups near the airport, which led to its complete destruction.
Israel has repeatedly launched strikes in Syria, the latest of which hit several sites belonging to pro-Tehran groups in the vicinity of Damascus on Tuesday, killing two.
Israel on the other hand, rarely confirms that it has carried out strikes in Syria, but it reiterates that it will continue to confront what it describes as Iran’s attempts to consolidate its military presence in Syria.
Damascus regularly condemns the Israeli bombardment of its territory and considers it an “aggression” on its sovereignty.
The United Nations and the Security Council often call for action to oblige Israel to stop targeting its lands, which it describes as “a flagrant violation of international law, international humanitarian law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter”.
