Israeli airstrikes on Damascus airport killed four people, including two Syrian soldiers. This was reported by the official Syrian news agency, Sanaa. Since then air traffic has resumed.
The bombing occurred around two in the morning local time. The official Syrian News Agency (Sana’a) quoted a Syrian military source as saying that “the Israeli enemy launched an air strike with a barrage of missiles targeting Damascus International Airport and its surroundings,” killing two soldiers and wounding two others.
The airport has been out of use for several hours, but air traffic can resume as early as 9 am local time (7 am Belgian time). According to a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Transportation, “activities have resumed on one of the bombed runways, while restoration work has continued on the other runway.” Because of the bombings, “a number of flights destined for Damascus Airport were diverted to Latakia Airport.”
According to the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Israeli strike targeted “sites of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian groups in and around the airport, including a weapons depot” and killed “four fighters, including two Syrian soldiers”. The nationalities of the other deceased are not yet clear.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on its neighbor. This mainly targets the positions of the Syrian army, pro-Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah. With these attacks, Israel says it wants to prevent Iran from expanding its influence in Syria.
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