Israel Again Bombs Syria’s Damascus and Aleppo Airports

One civilian was reported killed in the strikes

Israeli airstrikes simultaneously targeted Syria’s two main international airports in Damascus and Aleppo for the second time since the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

The airstrikes took place early Sunday morning and put both airports out of service. Syria’s SANA news agency reported that one civilian worker was killed in the attack, and another was wounded.

“At about 05:25 am on Sunday, the Israeli enemy simultaneously carried out an aerial act of aggression with waves of missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea west of Lattakia and from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan targeting Damascus and Aleppo international airports,” a military source told SANA.

“The aggression led to the martyrdom of a civilian worker at Damascus Airport, the injury of another worker, in addition to causing material damage to the runways of the two airports, putting them out of service,” the source added.

Israel previously targeted both airports on October 12. On October 14, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Aleppo airport but not Damascus. In all instances, the airports were temporarily knocked out of service. According to The Times of Israel, Syria told aviation authorities that the damage caused by the Sunday airstrikes would leave the airports out of service for at least two days.

For years, Israel has been bombing targets in Syria, which it frames as operations against Iran and Hezbollah’s presence in the country, but the strikes often kill Syrians and damage civilian infrastructure. Toward the end of 2022, Israel began regularly targeting Syria’s airports, including in the wake of the February 2023 earthquake that devastated northwest Syria. The Sunday airstrikes marked at least the 28th time Israeli warplanes bombed Syria this year.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.