Israeli warplanes struck Aleppo airport before dawn Tuesday, causing significant damage that halted flights to and from Syria’s quake-battered second city, the defence ministry said. The airport has been a major conduit for aid flights since a February 6 earthquake devastated swathes of southeastern Turkiye and neighbouring Syria, and they too were brought to a stop, a transport ministry official said. “At exactly 2:07 am (2307 GMT Monday), the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the Mediterranean west of Latakia targeting Aleppo international airport,” Syria’s defence ministry said in a statement.
The damage forced authorities to close the airport to all flights, the ministry added. There was no immediate word on any casualties. More than 80 aid flights have landed in Aleppo over the past month with relief supplies for quake-hit areas, transport ministry official Suleiman Khalil told AFP. “It is no longer possible to receive aid flights until the damage has been repaired,” he said, adding that the strike had put the runway out of service.
Aid deliveries have been diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports, a ministry statement said. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the reported strike. It marked the second Israeli attack on government-held areas since the devastating quake struck Turkiye and Syria, killing more than 50,000 people in the two countries. On February 19, an Israeli strike killed 15 people in a Damascus district housing state security agencies. Israel has attacked Aleppo airport several times in recent years, with a strike last September putting it out of service for a few days.