Israel’s army fired missiles at the international airport in the Syrian capital early Monday, putting it out of action and killing two soldiers and wounding two others, the Syrian army said.
The attack, the second in seven months to put Damascus International Airport out of service, caused material damage in a nearby area, the army said, without elaborating.
Israel has attacked airports and ports in government-controlled parts of Syria in an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to Tehran-backed militant groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
An opposition war monitor reported that the Israeli strikes hit the airport as well as an arms depot near the facility south of Damascus. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed in the attack.
There was no comment from Israel.
On June 10, Israeli airstrikes that hit Damascus International Airport caused significant damage to infrastructure and runways. It reopened two weeks after repairs.
In September, Israeli airstrikes hit the international airport in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest commercial hub, knocking it out of service for days.
In late 2021, Israeli warplanes fired missiles that hit the port of Latakia hitting containers and starting a huge fire.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or disputes such operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it is attacking bases of militant groups allied to Iran, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
Thousands of Iranian-backed fighters have joined Syria’s 11-year civil war and helped tip the balance of power in Assad’s favor.
Israel says the Iranian presence on its northern border is a red line that justifies its attacks on facilities and weapons inside Syria.
