According to the Syrian military, an Israeli air raid has destroyed the country’s primary international airport and killed at least two Syrian soldiers.
According to a statement released by the official SANA news agency, the air raid that targeted the Damascus International Airport and its surroundings occurred around 2 a.m. local time on Monday (23:00 GMT Sunday).
According to the statement, the attack rendered the airport inoperable and resulted in the “death of two soldiers, the wounding of two others, some material losses.”
Israel did not immediately respond with a response.
The incident marked the second time in less than a year that the Damascus International Airport had to be shut down.
The airport’s infrastructure and runways sustained significant damage as a result of Israeli air raids on June 10.
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After repairs, it reopened two weeks later.
Israel has also attacked other airports in Syria, most recently carrying out a September raid on the international airport in Aleppo, Syria, which was once the country’s largest and most important commercial center.
Israel has completed many strikes on focuses inside government-controlled pieces of Syria as of late yet seldom recognizes or talks about such activities. Israel has recognized, in any case, that it targets bases of Iran-unified outfitted gatherings, for example, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent a huge number of warriors to help Syrian President Bashar Assad’s powers.
The most recent Israeli attack could have been “driven by the new government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu to signal to the Iranians, Syrians, and Russians that Israel is going to maintain this policy of striking any target that it thinks is a danger to its own security,” according to senior fellow Ramy Khouri of the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School. On December 29, Benjamin Netanyahu, who won an election in November, was sworn in as prime minister of Israel for the sixth time.
“It is essential to keep in mind that the Congress of the United States of America passed laws a number of years ago guaranteeing that Israel will be militarily superior to any combination of foes or enemies surrounding them. Therefore, Israel can carry out attacks wherever it pleases in the region with impunity, and no one has been able to stop them,” Khouri stated.
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He added, “And the Israelis and the Russians, who are close allies with Syria and fought in Syria to keep the Assad regime in power, have an understanding that Israel can attack certain positions in Syria, but should not hinder Russian military activities there.” Such raids are likely to continue in the future.
The attack on Monday comes just a few days after Major General Oded Basiuk, the head of the Israeli military, presented the army’s operational outlook for 2023.
According to Israeli military tweets, Basiuk’s presentation stated, “We see that our course of action in Syria is an example of how continuous and persistent military action leads to shaping and influencing the entire region.”
It stated, “We will not accept Hezbollah 2.0 in Syria.”
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES