Overnight Israeli airstrikes on Aleppo province in northern Syria have reportedly killed four Syrian officers and three fighters backed by Iran, while also damaging the area’s international airport and rendering it unusable. These airstrikes are just the latest in a series of similar attacks by Israel, which has targeted Iranian-backed forces, Hezbollah fighters, and Syrian army positions over the past decade of conflict in Syria. The incident highlights the ongoing tensions and conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as the ongoing violence in Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli missiles targeted “the Aleppo international airport area and the Nayrab military airfield area” nearby late on Monday, reporting explosions at both facilities and “severe damage”.
Strikes “completely destroyed” a munitions depot in the Nayrab airfield area, killing four Syrian army officers and “three pro-Iran foreign fighters”, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a vast network of sources on the ground, raising the toll from four dead.
Israeli missiles also slammed into Syrian air force factories in the Safireh area of Aleppo province, “causing extensive material damage”, it said, adding that the sites were used by pro-Iran fighters.
“At around 11:35 pm (2035 GMT) … the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack with several missiles… targeting Aleppo international airport and a number of sites in the vicinity of Aleppo,” said the Syrian premier news agency SANA while citing a military source.
“A soldier was killed and seven people were wounded including two civilians,” SANA said, reporting “material losses”.
Previous Israeli strikes have put both Aleppo and Damascus airports out of service.
While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-foe Iran to extend its footprint in the war-torn country.
Iran-backed militias have a heavy presence in the Aleppo region after providing key ground support to the army in its recapture of rebel-held districts of the city in 2016.
On March 22, an Israeli missile strike destroyed a suspected arms depot used by Iran-backed militias at Aleppo airport, the Observatory said at the time, with authorities saying that raid put the airport out of service.
On March 7, three people were killed in an Israeli strike on the airport that also brought air traffic to a halt.
On Saturday, three civilians were wounded in Israeli air strikes near the Syrian city of Homs, state media reported, with the Observatory saying a Hezbollah munitions depot at the Dabaa military airport was destroyed.
