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Syria: Israeli strike shut down Aleppo airport

No casualties were reported in the strike, which damaged the airport’s only runway.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

An Israeli airstrike early Monday in Syria has put the Aleppo airport out of commission, Syrian media reported.

“The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack…targeting Aleppo International Airport. The aggression caused material damage to the airport’s runway and put it out of service,” the Syrian defense ministry said.

The airport only has one runway.

State mouthpiece SANA said the planes came in from the Mediterranean Sea ayt about 4:30 a.m. to hit the northern airport with long-range missiles. Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik reported that the country’s air defense managed to intercept a few of the missiles.

About an hour after the strike, the Syrian aviation authorities formally notified incoming pilots that the airport was shut down for repairs and that air traffic would be deviated to Damascus and Latakia.

No casualties were reported in the attack.

This is not the first time the Israeli Air Force targeted Aleppo’s airport, reports indicate. It was hit in May, twice in March, and once each last September and last August, although not every time was the damage enough to knock it out of service.

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Israeli authorities did not comment on the Monday strike, following its usual policy when it comes to the actions it takes against its northern neighbor. Jerusalem has acknowledged in general that it has struck military positions in Syria hundreds of times a year in recent years in an attempt to stop Iran from entrenching itself militarily on Israel’s border.

The IDF calls this continuing effort a “war between the wars,” destroying targets such as missile factories, armories and command and control centers manned by Iranian personnel or Tehran’s major terror proxy, Hezbollah.

Strikes on Aleppo’s airport are seemingly meant to contain the delivery of military supplies from Tehran to its men in Syria. This was especially so in March, after a devastating earthquake hit Syria’s north and a large area in Turkey the previous month, when Iran allegedly took advantage of the situation to send in weaponry under the cover of humanitarian relief.

There is also a military airfield near Aleppo’s civilian airport that was reportedlyone of the targets hit when the IAF goes into action in the area.