Three dead in Israel strike on Syria’s Aleppo airport: Report
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Hashim Sheikh
- . March 8, 2023
- . Update: March 8, 2023 4:16 pm
An Israeli strike killed three people at Syria’s Aleppo airport on Tuesday, according to a war monitor. A Syrian officer and two people of unknown nationality were killed in a raid.
According to Syrian officials, Israeli warplanes halted earthquake aid flights. Syria’s Aleppo airport helped to deliver relief aid after a February 6 powerful earthquake devastated swathes of Turkey and neighbouring Syria. A transport ministry official in Syria said the aid flights used to come from Aleppo.
According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, three people were killed after Israel launched an air raid on Syria’s Aleppo airport. The war monitor has a network of sources in Syria.
Syria’s defence ministry said in a statement, “The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack at 2:07 am from the Mediterranean west of Latakia targeting Aleppo international airport.” It further said that the missile attacks damaged the runway of the airport.
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Citing a military source, the SANA news agency said that the attack put the airport out of service. The Syrian transport ministry said in a statement that all scheduled flights were also affected due to the attack.
The transport ministry official Suleiman Khalil said it was impossible to receive aid flights after the airstrike. Earthquake aid deliveries had been diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports after Israel launched an air raid on the Aleppo airport.
According to the British war monitor, the airport would reopen in a few days after repair work. Syria’s foreign ministry termed the incident as a “double crime.” It was the second Israeli attack on Syria after the 7.8-magnitude quake wreaked havoc in Syria and Turkey.
In February, an Israeli air strike killed 15 people in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Israel launched an attack on Aleppo and Damascus airports several times in recent years.
