Damascus airport was destroyed in an airstrike on June 10th. Photo published by the official Syrian agency SANA. PA
Damascus International Airport was shut down by Israeli attacks on Monday, January 2, killing four people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). “Four militants, including two Syrian soldiers, were killed by the Israeli bombardment,” said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the UK-based OSDH. He could not state the nationality of the other two killed.
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For its part, the official Syrian agency SANA, citing a military source, confirmed that two Syrian Army soldiers died in the attack, which took place around 2 a.m. Monday.
According to Rami Abdul Rahman, this attack targeted “Hezbollah and pro-Iranian group positions in and around the airport, including an arms depot.”
The Jewish state has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in its neighbor since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, targeting not only Syrian Army positions but also pro-Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah.
“We will not accept Hezbollah 2.0 in Syria”
On December 28, the head of the Israeli Army’s Operations Directorate, Major General Oded Basiuk, spoke about these raids in Syria when presenting his operational prospects for 2023.
“We see our action plan in Syria as an example of how continuous and persistent military action tends to shape and influence the entire region,” the IDF tweeted when reporting on General Basiuk’s presentation. “We will not accept Hezbollah 2.0 in Syria,” the Israeli army added.
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Before dawn on June 10, the Israeli Air Force had bombed the airport in the south of the Syrian capital, shutting down the runways for almost two weeks.
Aleppo Airport, the second largest in the country, also had to be closed for several days after Israeli raids in September.
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