Illustrative image. Source: the Israeli Air Force.
On October 21, Israel launched simultaneous strikes against Syria’s two main airports in the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo.
A Syrian military source cited by the official SANA news agency said that “bursts of missiles” hit the two airports at the same time, in what he said was a bid to distract the world’s attention from Israel’s war with Hamas militants in Gaza.
“This aggression is a desperate attempt by the criminal Israeli enemy to divert attention from the crimes it is committing in Gaza, and the great losses it is suffering at the hands of the Palestinian resistance. It is part of the ongoing approach to supporting the extremist terrorist groups that the Syrian army is fighting in the north of the country, and which constitute an arm. Armed with the Israeli entity,”
No casualties were reported after the Israeli attack. However, both airports were placed out of service, according to the Syrian Transport Ministry, which said in a statement that all flights will be redirected to Hemiem Airport near the coastal city of Lattakia.
Following the attack, an Israeli Patriot air defense system fired a missile near the front with Syria as a result of a false alert.
Israel media reported that the two airports were attacked in response to mortar fire from Syria that targeted the al-Golan Heights two days earlier, according to Israeli Channel 12.
They would be the first Israeli attack on Syria since the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip launched a large-scale attack, killing 1,300 Israelis and wounding more than 3,000 others.
The attack came just a few hours after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, during which they discussed the war in Gaza. It also came ahead of an announced visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to Damascus.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but rarely acknowledges or discusses the attacks which are allegedly meant to prevent Iran from establishing a lasting presence in the country.
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