Syria says Israeli jets strike Aleppo airport, shutting it down (msn.com)
The Israeli Air Force allegedly carried out an airstrike at the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to Syrian state media.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said the airport has been shut down due to the damage sustained from the strike. According to the report, Syria’s air defenses were activated but it was not clear if there were any interceptions. Syria regularly claims to intercept Israeli missiles, though military analysts doubt such assertions.
Late last August, Syria accused Israel of being behind two consecutive airstrikes at the Aleppo International Airport and a site near the Damascus Airport, as Israel was said to be ramping up its efforts to target airports to counter Tehran’s growing use of commercial flights to bring military supplies into the country.
A Western intelligence source and a Syrian military defector told the Reuters news agency in September that Tehran has taken to flying small weapons and other military supplies on regular civilian flights. Supplies transferred include precision-guided missiles, night vision equipment and UAVs, all of which are small enough to load onto civilian planes, they said.
Iran has increasingly relied on flights as its previous ground routes via Iraq have become unreliable amid local turf wars and internal conflicts, the report said.
