It is the second time in less than seven months that Damascus airport has been shut down due to Israeli strikes
Damascus’ international airport was shut down today after Israeli airstrikes killed four people, including two Syrian soldiers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It is the second time in less than seven months that Damascus airport, home to Iranian-backed militias and fighters from Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah, has been shut down by Israeli strikes.
“Four militants, including two Syrian soldiers, were killed in the Israeli shelling,” Rami Abdul Rahman, the director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. He was unable to specify the nationality of the other two fighters.
The state news agency SANA, citing a source close to the armed forces, reported for its part that two Syrian soldiers were killed in the Israeli strikes. The raid was carried out at around 02:00 (local time; 01:00 Greek time), according to the same source.
“The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack with a barrage of missiles that targeted the international airport of Damascus and its surroundings”, causing “the death of two soldiers, the injuries of two others”, as well as material damage, according to the information transmitted by the agency .
The Syrian capital’s international airport was put “out of action,” he added.
According to the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes targeted “positions of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian organizations inside the airport and its surroundings, including a weapons depot.”
Since the war in Syria broke out in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes, the vast majority of them from the air, against positions of the armed forces of the Syrian government and their allies, Iranian and pro-Iranian armed groups, especially Hezbollah.
The Jewish state rarely confirms or publicly comments on the raids it launches, but often declares that it will not allow Iran, its sworn enemy, to build a bridgehead or expand its influence on Syrian territory.
“Hezbollah 2.0”
On December 28, the director of operations of the Israeli army, Lt. Gen. Oded Basiuk, referred to the raids in Syria while presenting the operational outlook for 2023.
“We find that our action plan in Syria is an example of how a continuous and persistent military operation leads to shaping and influencing the entire region,” said Chahal — the Israeli military — summarizing General Basiuk’s presentation.
“We will not accept the emergence of a Hezbollah 2.0 in Syria,” he added.
What the Israeli military has dubbed a “campaign between wars” began nearly a decade ago on January 30, 2013, with a strike against a shipment of Russian-made SA-17 air defense systems it said were destined for Hezbollah.
That year, four such raids were conducted. But their current rate is almost one per week, Israel’s chief of the national defense staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, said in December.
On June 10, the Israeli air force also bombed Damascus International Airport, in the southern part of the Syrian capital, shutting down runways for nearly two weeks.
Aleppo airport, the second largest in the country, was also closed for days in September due to Israeli airstrikes.
The war in Syria has claimed the lives of an estimated half a million people, uprooted millions more, and caused widespread destruction of infrastructure.
After endless years of deadly fighting and shelling in the war that erupted after a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011, hostilities have largely ceased in the past three years.
At least 3,825 people were killed in Syria’s armed conflict in 2022, the lowest toll since it broke out in 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
RES-EMP
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
