The international airports of Damascus and Aleppo (northwest), in Syria, were out of service this Thursday, after two simultaneous attacks attributed to Israel, according to Syrian authorities.
According to official Syrian news, Israeli aircraft simultaneously launched missiles at the two airports at around 1:50 PM local time (11:50 AM in Lisbon), causing material damage to the runways and forcing the suspension of air traffic at both facilities. Agency, SANA, which quoted an unnamed military source.
The attacks “damaged the runways at both airports, putting them out of use,” the same source said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the United Kingdom and with an extensive network of partners on the ground, confirmed on its account on the social network the two cities, caused by “Israeli attacks within the perimeter” of these airports.
So far this year, there have been 34 Israeli actions, 26 of them from the air, some of which have already temporarily put Damascus and Aleppo airports, the country’s main airports, out of service, according to the Observatory.
Israel regularly attacks Syrian territory, more often with missiles launched from its aircraft and less often from the ground, from the side of the border, although this is the first major attack since the start of the war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. at last Saturday.
The actions of the Jewish state in Syria are normally directed against targets of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which has launched several attacks on Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in recent days, or against Iranian militias, which this week announced their presence to the Syrian strengthened the border. from Golan.
Both Hezbollah and other Tehran-backed armed groups are present in Syrian territory and are allies of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, while Israel views their continued presence in the neighboring country as a threat to Israeli security.
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli territory on Saturday, dubbed Operation ‘Storm al-Aqsa’, with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air.
In response to the surprise attack, Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, in an operation dubbed “Iron Swords”.
Israel declared all-out war and vowed to punish Hamas like never before, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring he was “at war” with the Palestinian group.
Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as a ‘terrorist group’ by the European Union (EU), the United States and Israel.
Official data on fatalities from the conflict provoked by the Islamist group on Saturday points to 1,300 dead in Israel and 1,354 in the Gaza Strip, official sources from both sides said today.
In Israel, 3,268 people were hospitalized, of whom 28 were in critical condition, 348 in serious condition and 581 in moderate condition, according to the latest data from the Israeli Ministry of Health.
On the Gaza side, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, in addition to the deaths of 1,354 people, including many civilians, there were 6,049 injuries in several states, as well as 31 deaths in the West Bank, where some 180 were also injured. counted.
Source: DN
