Israel air attack damages Syria's Aleppo Airport

An Israeli air attack on Syria’s Aleppo Airport on Tuesday has damaged the runway and taken it out of service, Syrian state media quoted a military source as saying, Reuters reports. Flights have since been diverted to Damascus, SANA reported.

The Israel missile attack was launched from the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 8:16 p.m. local time (1716 GMT), the source said.

Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli missiles, downing several of them, the Syrian state news agency, (SANA), reported earlier on Tuesday.

The Assad regime’s Transport Ministry said in a statement that “all scheduled and programmed flights through Aleppo International Airport will be diverted to Damascus International Airport, following the Israeli aggression that targeted Aleppo Airport and led to it being out of service,” the news agency added.

It was the second reported attack in less than a week. On 31 August, Israel fired rockets at the Airport, which resulted in material damage, according to Syrian state media.

Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Tehran’s increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Hezbollah, regional diplomatic and intelligence sources told Reuters.

Tehran has adopted air transport as a more reliable means of ferrying military equipment to its forces and allied fighters in Syria, following disruptions to ground transfers.

Last week’s attack damaged Aleppo Airport just before the arrival of a plane from Iran, a commander in an Iran-backed regional alliance who was familiar with the incident told Reuters.

READ: Israel attacks squeeze Iran aerial supplies to Syria, sources say

UPDATE: This item was updated on 12:55 (GMT) on 7 September 2022 to include details of flight diversions to Damascus.