Four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Damascus Airport

The Syrian army said Israel carried out an airstrike on Damascus International Airport, killing at least two soldiers and damaging airport facilities.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency (SANA) quoted a senior military officer as saying that an airstrike hit Damascus International Airport at 2 a.m. local time on Monday. And its sides were targeted.

The statement added that the attack “killed two soldiers while two others were injured and facilities were also damaged. The airport is currently non-functional.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based human rights organization, says that a total of four people have been killed in the attack.

“Four people have been killed, including two Syrian soldiers,” Observatory chief Rami Abdulrahman told AFP news agency. He said that the attack targeted the airport and the weapons depot near it.

This is the second time in less than a year that Damascus International Airport has been forced to close. On June 10 last year, the Damascus airport was disabled after the Israeli attack, which was partially reconstructed and reopened after two weeks.

Israel has also targeted other airports. It attacked Syria’s largest international airport in Aleppo in September, rendering it inoperable for several days. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in government-controlled areas of Syria in recent years, but neither talks nor acknowledges them. Israel, however, has admitted that it has targeted the bases of Iranian-backed armed groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.

During the 11-year civil war in Syria, the participation of Iran-backed militants has tipped the balance of war in favor of President Bashar al-Assad, while Israel considers Iran’s presence on its northern border a threat to its security. Bashar al-Assad has never admitted that the Iranian military is helping him.

Monday’s attack on the Damascus airport came as Israeli army chief Major General Oded Basiuk outlined his army’s operational activities for 2023 a few days ago.