Syria's Aleppo airport 'out of service' after Israeli missile attack, state media reports

Incident comes a week after missiles hit Aleppo's airport and Syrian capital

The damage caused by an Israeli strike that hit Aleppo International Airport last week. AP

Israel launched a missile attack on Aleppo International Airport on Tuesday, putting it out of service, Syrian state media reported.

“Around 8.16pm, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression with a number of missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport,” a military source was quoted by Sana news agency as saying.

“The aggression caused damage to the airport’s runway and put the facility out of service.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Israeli air strikes also destroyed warehouses belonging to Iran-backed militias near the airport.

The Syrian Transport Ministry said that all scheduled flights through Aleppo airport will be diverted to Damascus International Airport.

Last week, Syria said a missile attack was launched on Aleppo's airport and that Syrian air defence forces had confronted “Israeli air aggression” over the capital of Damascus.

The UK-based observatory said that one person was killed and three wounded in the Israeli shelling of Damascus, and that four rockets had hit a runway and depots at the Aleppo airport.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbour, attacking government troops, allied Iran-backed forces and fighters from Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah.

While Israel rarely comments on the attacks, it has acknowledged carrying them out.

The Israeli military has defended them as necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.

The conflict in Syria has killed nearly half a million people and forced about half of the country's prewar population from their homes.