An Israeli airstrike struck the international airport in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria during the early hours of Monday, causing damage to a runway and rendering it non-operational, as reported by Syrian state media. The state news agency SANA, citing a military source, informed that Israeli aircraft originating from the Mediterranean Sea conducted the attack at approximately 4:30 a.m. The incident did not result in any reported casualties.


"At about 4:30 a.m. on Monday, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial act of aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Lattakia, targeting Aleppo Airport," SANA reported a military source as saying. The attack led to material damage to the airport runway, thus it went out of service, the report added.


News agency AFP reported Syrian transport ministry official Suleiman Khalil as informing that the damage targetted the only functioning runway and that "maintenance teams will start repair work today to return the airport to service as quickly as possible".


Flights were diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports, he told AFP.


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This year has seen multiple instances of the airport being targeted, with two attacks in March also rendering it non-functional.


Israeli authorities have not yet issued a comment on the situation.


Over the past years, Israel has executed numerous strikes on targets located within government-controlled regions of Syria. Among these are attacks on the airports in Damascus and Aleppo. However, the nation seldom acknowledges or openly discusses these operations. The focus of these airstrikes often encompasses Syrian military forces or groups supported by Iran, according to a report by the Associated Press (AP).


The airstrikes appear to have the objective of thwarting arms deliveries from Iran to Tehran-backed militant groups, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, within the government-held parts of Syria, the report mentioned. Thousands of fighters with ties to Iran from various regions joined the 12-year Syrian conflict, contributing to shifting the balance in favor of President Bashar Assad's forces.


Aleppo, which underwent substantial devastation during Syria's civil war, witnessed further damage due to the powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck both Turkey and Syria in February.


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