Early on March 22, a series of Israeli strikes hit Aleppo International Airport in northern Syria, placing it out of service for the second time in recent weeks.
The Syrian Arab News Agency, citing a military source, said that the Israeli fighter jets launched several missiles at the airport from over the Mediterranean sea, causing some material losses. The state-run agency didn’t report any casualties, however.
According to a notice sent by Syrian aviation authorities, known as a NOTAM, the runway at the airport was closed after the attack.
In a statement, the Syrian Ministry of Transport said that the airport’s runway and navigation equipment were damaged as a result of the Israeli strikes. All flights scheduled for Aleppo were redirected to the country’s two other international airports in Damascus and Latakia.
Two regional intelligence sources speaking to the Reuters news agency said that the strikes also targeted an underground depot at the adjacent Nairab military airport. The sources said the depot was used to store missile systems which had been delivered by Iranian cargo flights.
The airport is regularly used for Iranian weapons deliveries and the movement of troops, the two unnamed sources claimed.
This was the second confirmed Israeli attack on Aleppo International Airport in recent weeks. On March 7, a series of strikes hit the airport, placing it out of service for three days.
The airport has been a major channel for the flow of humanitarian aid into Aleppo since the devastating February 6 Turkish-Syrian earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.
Israel carried out hundreds of strikes against alleged Iranian weapons storage and personnel deployment positions in Syria over the past decade as a part of a covert military campaign known as “the war between the wars.” Israeli officials have rarely acknowledged responsibility.
Source: South Front
