Aleppo airport in Syria to reopen after reported Israeli strikes

Satellite images show damage to the runway after attack on Tuesday

A satellite image shows damage to the runway after strikes on Aleppo airport in northern Syria on September 6, 2022. AFP

Flights from Aleppo are to resume after repairs were carried out to Syria's second largest airport following what the government claimed was an Israeli air strike earlier this week.

Damage to the main runway in Tuesday's raid put the airport out of service but the transport ministry said repairs had been completed and the airport was ready to reopen.

In a statement carried by the state Sana news agency, the ministry said that air traffic would resume from midday local time.

The reported Israeli strike, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said targeted a warehouse used by Iran-backed militias, was the second to hit the airport in just a week.

A satellite image shows damage at Aleppo airport in northern Syria after several Israeli strikes on August 31, 2022. AFP

“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 told Sana news agency.

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

Since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against its northern neighbour, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.

While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has admitted carrying out hundreds. It says its air campaign is necessary to stop Iran gaining a foothold on its doorstep.

Updated: September 09, 2022, 9:06 AM