Damascus airport in service after month-long hiatus: Monitor
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Damascus airport is back in service more than a month after Israeli strikes damaged the runway, a war monitor reported on Saturday.
“Damascus International Airport has returned to work after being out of service for over a month. It was announced that work at the airport will resume and flights will take off and be received starting tomorrow,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor.
On October 22, Israeli strikes on Syria’s main airports at Damascus and Aleppo damaged the runways and knocked them out of service, and Syria’s transportation ministry announced later than inbound and outbound flights through both airports will be diverted to Latakia’s airport.
A Russian military base at Latakia airport protects it from Israeli strikes, according to the monitor.
It was the longest that both airports have been shut since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war over a decade ago.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 12-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which supports the Syrian army.
While it rarely comments on strikes attributed to it in Syria, Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran to gain a foothold there.
On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Damascus killed two Syrians affiliated with Hezbollah.
There have been 54 Israeli strikes on Syrian territory since the beginning of the year, killing 98 soldiers and militiamen and wounding 117 others, according to SOHR. The strikes have resulted in the destruction of around 110 targets.
“Damascus International Airport has returned to work after being out of service for over a month. It was announced that work at the airport will resume and flights will take off and be received starting tomorrow,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor.
On October 22, Israeli strikes on Syria’s main airports at Damascus and Aleppo damaged the runways and knocked them out of service, and Syria’s transportation ministry announced later than inbound and outbound flights through both airports will be diverted to Latakia’s airport.
A Russian military base at Latakia airport protects it from Israeli strikes, according to the monitor.
It was the longest that both airports have been shut since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war over a decade ago.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 12-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which supports the Syrian army.
While it rarely comments on strikes attributed to it in Syria, Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran to gain a foothold there.
On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Damascus killed two Syrians affiliated with Hezbollah.
There have been 54 Israeli strikes on Syrian territory since the beginning of the year, killing 98 soldiers and militiamen and wounding 117 others, according to SOHR. The strikes have resulted in the destruction of around 110 targets.