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| Israeli Fighter Jets Strike Aleppo Airport, Syria, 3 People Killed |
Demascus - Israeli fighter jets killed three people in an attack on Aleppo airport, Syria, Tuesday (7/3/2023). The Israeli military strikes stopped the flow of aid for earthquake victims. The airport has been a key conduit for relief flights since a February 6 earthquake devastated southeastern Turkey and Syria.
A Ministry of Transport official in Syria said aid flights included those that were stopped from Aleppo, Syria's second largest city.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources in war-torn Syria, said "a Syrian officer" and two people of unknown nationality were killed in the air strike. Syria's defense ministry said the attack took place at 02:07 (2307 GMT Monday).
"The Israeli enemy carried out an airstrike from the western Mediterranean of Latakia targeting the international airport of Aleppo," the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
It added that the damage forced authorities to close the airport to all flights. More than 80 relief flights have landed in Aleppo over the past month with relief supplies for the quake-hit areas. "It will no longer be possible to receive relief flights until the damage is repaired," the statement continued, adding that the Israeli strike had rendered the runway non-functional.
"Aid shipments have been diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports," the statement added. State news agency SANA said Syria's air defenses had acted against "enemy missiles."
An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the reported attack. The Observatory meanwhile said the airport was expected to reopen within days after repair work.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry denounced a "double evil", saying the attack targeted "a civilian airport and one of the main channels for the arrival of humanitarian aid" to the victims of the earthquake which killed around 6,000 people in Syria. It marked the second Israeli attack on government-held territory since a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in both countries.
"On February 19, an Israeli airstrike killed 15 people in the Damascus district which houses the state security agency," the Observatory said. Damascus' ally, Iran, condemned the latest attack as a "crime against humanity", "While the victims of the Syrian earthquake in Aleppo are experiencing difficult conditions, the Zionist regime (Israel) attacked Aleppo airport," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement. .