DAMASCUS: Several Israeli strikes struck Aleppo airport in northern Syria on Wednesday, according to the official SANA news agency, causing material damage.
“Around 2000 hours (1700 GMT), the Israeli enemy targeted Aleppo international airport with missile fire, causing some material damage at the heart of the facility,” according to the agency.
The Syrian government reported no casualties.
SANA had previously reported “explosions” in the area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the United Kingdom, confirmed the attack, citing a wide network of sources on the ground.
According to a statement, Israel fired four missiles at the Aleppo International Airport and the warehouses surrounding it. According to the group, the warehouses most likely housed a shipment of Iranian rockets.
The Observatory reported no casualties, but said the strikes caused explosions and fires.
Meanwhile, Syrian state media reported Damascus air defense systems firing on what it claimed were Israeli missiles aimed at positions south of the Syrian capital. According to an opposition war monitor, Israeli airstrikes targeted military positions. There were no reported casualties.
SANA reported two civilians injured in a series of Israeli air strikes on the western Hama and Tartus regions last Thursday.
According to the Observatory, they were among the most intense Israeli raids on Iranian-aligned militias in Syria.
Since the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes inside government-controlled areas, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.
While Israel rarely comments on specific strikes, it has admitted to carrying out hundreds.
The Israeli military has justified its actions as necessary to prevent arch-enemy Iran from gaining a foothold on its borders.
The Israeli military, however, refused to comment on the airstrike on Aleppo’s airport.
Israel launched an airstrike on a military facility in western Syria on Sunday. Satellite imagery revealed widespread devastation in the depot, which the opposition war monitor claimed housed hundreds of intermediate-range missiles for Iran-backed fighters.
Israeli airstrikes temporarily shut down Damascus International Airport in June.
Source: AFP