Israel Targets Aleppo, Damascus Airports 10 Times in Over a Year to ‘Fight Iran’

Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous inspects the damage to the runway at Damascus International Airport last Friday after an Israeli bombing. (SANA)
Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous inspects the damage to the runway at Damascus International Airport last Friday after an Israeli bombing. (SANA)
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Israel Targets Aleppo, Damascus Airports 10 Times in Over a Year to ‘Fight Iran’

Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous inspects the damage to the runway at Damascus International Airport last Friday after an Israeli bombing. (SANA)
Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous inspects the damage to the runway at Damascus International Airport last Friday after an Israeli bombing. (SANA)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented ten Israeli attacks in over a year on Aleppo and Damascus international airports in a bid to fight Iran in Syria.

These attacks led to putting Aleppo International Airport out of service on six occasions and Damascus International Airport on one occasion.

In addition, the Israeli attacks on the two airports since August 2022 left 25 combatants dead, including officers, and Iranian-backed non-Syrian and Syrian militiamen.

Israel attacked Saturday the airport of Aleppo for the second time in 48 hours, putting it out of service.

On Sunday, a senior Israeli official accused Iran of trying to open a second war front by deploying weapons in or through Syria as Israel steps up a counter-offensive in Gaza to the south.

Syria accused Israel of carrying out strikes against Damascus and Aleppo airports last week.

In a related context, a military source who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Syrian opposition Orient TV that the Iranian militias have recently started a new program to develop and assemble drones at the T4 military airport in eastern Homs in coordination with the airport command and the Syrian Air Force.

The source added this is supervised by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The “Quds Force” militias worked to assemble and develop four types of drones and trained their members and “Hezbollah” militiamen on them within the airport.

Meanwhile, Al-Alam TV reported on Sunday that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi had a phone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Sunday and informed him that if Israel didn’t stop its attacks on Gaza, then “the theater will expand”.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said “If the attacks of the Zionist regime against civilians and the defenseless people of Gaza persist, no one can guarantee that the situation will be under control and the scope of the fighting won’t expand.”



Iran: Houthis Will Allow Rescuers to Salvage Oil Tanker Ablaze in Red Sea

Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23, on the Red Sea, August 28, 2024. EUNAVFOR ASPIDES via X/Handout via REUTERS
Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23, on the Red Sea, August 28, 2024. EUNAVFOR ASPIDES via X/Handout via REUTERS
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Iran: Houthis Will Allow Rescuers to Salvage Oil Tanker Ablaze in Red Sea

Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23, on the Red Sea, August 28, 2024. EUNAVFOR ASPIDES via X/Handout via REUTERS
Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23, on the Red Sea, August 28, 2024. EUNAVFOR ASPIDES via X/Handout via REUTERS

Yemen’s Houthi militias have agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to assist a Greek-flagged oil tanker that remains ablaze in the Red Sea “in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations claimed late Wednesday.

However, the Houthis did not offer specific details and are believed to have blocked an earlier attempt to salvage the vessel and continue to attack shipping across the Red Sea.

Last week’s attack on the Sounion marked the most serious assault in weeks by the Iranian-backed Houthis, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s UN mission said Wednesday that following the fire on the Sounion “and the subsequent environmental hazards,” several countries it didn’t identify reached out to the Houthis “requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area.”

“Ansar Allah has consented to this,” the Iranian mission said, using another name for the Houthis. It offered no further details, nor did the Houthis.