Alleged Israeli airstrikes shut down the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo early on Tuesday morning, according to Syrian state media.
“At 2:07 a.m. on Tuesday, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial act of aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean, west of Lattakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, which led to material damage at the airport as it went out of service,” SANA reported.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israel Defense Forces did not comment on the report, in accordance with Jerusalem’s long-standing policy regarding specific foreign operations. However, the military has acknowledged in the past conducting hundreds of strikes on Iran-backed forces attempting to establish a foothold in Syria.
هجوم إسرائيلي يستهدف مواقع ميليشيات إيران في محيط مطار حلب وأصوات الانفجارات تهز المنطقة#أورينت pic.twitter.com/IBvEbrbjaF
— Orient أورينت (@OrientNews) March 6, 2023
Tuesday’s incident comes after a strike in Damascus late last month attributed to Israel targeted Iranian officials meeting to advance the development of the drone or missile capabilities of Tehran’s proxies in Syria.
Five people were killed and more than a dozen wounded in the alleged Israeli air raid, which targeted a building in the city’s Kafr Sousa neighborhood and damaged several structures near a heavily guarded security complex linked to Iran.
Tehran has provided immense support to leader Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s ongoing 12-year civil war, and its efforts to entrench itself militarily in the country while arming terrorist outfits such as Hezbollah have prompted regular Israeli airstrikes.
In January, two Syrian soldiers were killed by reported Israeli airstrikes on Damascus International Airport.
The Israel Air Force in August allegedly dropped missiles on the airport in Aleppo, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition war monitor, reporting that it was the 23rd Israeli attack in Syria to that point in 2022.
