Hitting Iranian weapons, Israel bombed and damaged Damascus International Airport
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) conducted an airstrike against Iranian targets on Friday and bombed the Damascus International Airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported (SOHR).
IAF jets
Syria’s official SANA news agency reported Friday that Syrian army air defences “confronted an Israeli-missiles aggression” that targeted several posts south of Damascus
The attack left one civilian injured and caused material damage, the report said.
The IDF has remained silent on the report, as it usually does after reported operations in Syria.
According to SOHR sources in Damascus International Airport, the Israeli strike hit the northern runway of the airport, three warehouses of Iranian-backed militias, the navigation lights, the communications tower, old lounges, and warehouses.
Maintenance workers have been “working by leaps and bounds” to repair and maintain the damage caused by the Israeli bombardment, the report said.
Vast parts of the “old airport terminals” that were demolished in the attack were used to store Iranian weapons shipments and to receive undercover figures from Iranian-backed military commanders and Lebanese Hezbollah, were demolished, SOHR noted.
SOHR further noted that the northern runway, which was put out of use due to the strike, was the only runway in service after the southern runway was put out of service in 2021 due to Israeli strikes which targeted shipments and warehouses of Iranian-backed militias in the perimeter of the airport. The southern runway has not been maintained so far due to the considerable damage it sustained.
The war monitor reported that flights from and to Damascus were suspended, and the Syrian airline informed passengers that their flights would be delayed for 48 hours.
This was the 15th Israeli attack on Syrian territory since the beginning of 2022, according to the SOHR’s count.
Iran routinely attempts to arm the Lebanon-based Hezbollah with advanced weapons. Israel has exposed and thwarted multiple attempts by Iran to transfer game-changing weapons to Hezbollah, including by air shipments from Iran, through Damascus Airport.
Over the years, the IAF has carried out thousands of attacks to thwart the Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country and to prevent Hezbollah from accumulating advanced weapons.
According to the SOHR, the IAF conducted 29 strikes in Syria throughout 2021. The attacks hit 71 targets and killed 130 people, including 125 combatants from the Syrian military, Hezbollah and Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
The Damascus area was the most attacked area in 2021, with 12 attacks out of the 29. The Damascus airport, which serves as an entry point for weapons coming from Iran on their way to Hezbollah in Lebanon, was one of the main targets.
