A photo released by ImageSat International (ISI) on Sept. 2, 2022 shows damage at Aleppo airport in northern Syria after several Israeli strikes on Aug. 31. (Credit: AFP PHOTO / HO /ImageSat International)
CAIRO — An Israeli airstrike on Syria's Aleppo airport on Tuesday has damaged the runway and taken the airport out of service, the Syrian Defence Ministry said.
The Israel missile attack was launched from the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 8:16 p.m. local time, the ministry said in a statement.
Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli missiles, downing several of them, the Syrian state-run news agency (SANA) reported earlier on Tuesday. It was the second reported attack in less than week. On Aug. 31, Israel had fired rockets at the Aleppo airport, which resulted in material damage, according to Syrian state media. While in June, Israeli airstrikes near the capital's airport caused the Damascus airport to shut down.
Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports, claiming 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.
Reporting by Lilian Wagdy and Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Grant McCool and Lisa Shumaker