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Syrian Regime Diverts Flights to Latakia Airport after Latest Israeli Strikes

A Cham Wings Airlines Airbus A320-211 is pictured in Syria in this file photo taken on June 15, 2022. (AFP)
A Cham Wings Airlines Airbus A320-211 is pictured in Syria in this file photo taken on June 15, 2022. (AFP)
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Syrian Regime Diverts Flights to Latakia Airport after Latest Israeli Strikes

A Cham Wings Airlines Airbus A320-211 is pictured in Syria in this file photo taken on June 15, 2022. (AFP)
A Cham Wings Airlines Airbus A320-211 is pictured in Syria in this file photo taken on June 15, 2022. (AFP)

Flights to and from the Syrian government-ruled areas have been diverted to Latakia International Airport since the latest Israeli airstrikes that hit airports in Damascus and Aleppo.   

Reliable sources in Damascus said the government has most likely completed repairing the two airports but doesn’t want to resume operations so that Israel won’t strike them again.

In the past and after previous strikes on airports, authorities were quick to announce that operations were resuming there in just a matter of days. Now, weeks have past since the attacks and the authorities have yet to announce the resumption of services there.

A local source in Damascus told Asharq Al-Awsat that people are traveling through Latakia International Airport because the two airports in Damascus and Aleppo are out of service.  

Another source confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he returned from a foreign country two days ago through the airport in Latakia.   

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Oct. 10 that Israel continues to attack targets in Syria under the pretext of countering Iranian expansion and Iranian-backed militias in the country.  

Between October 10 and November 10, the SOHR documented 17 attacks: 11 airstrikes and six rocket attacks by ground forces.  

Four airstrikes hit Aleppo International Airport, putting it out of service on four occasions. Two airstrikes hit Damascus International Airport, putting it out of service on two occasions.   

After the Israeli attack, Syria’s Ministry of Transport announced that it was diverting scheduled flights to Latakia airport.  

Sources said that the Syrian government believes that operating Latakia airport was a safer bet given the deployment of Russian forces at the nearby Hmeimim airport. It is unlikely for Israel to target regions in Syria that are held by Russia, they added.

SOHR confirmed that no military shipments have been delivered to Iranian-backed militias through the Damascus and Aleppo airports after the latest Israeli strikes.

The Damascus Voice website said that a plane from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards-linked Mahan Air flew in from Tehran and landed at the Latakia airport on November 2. The plane had no passengers and was unloaded under Russian-Iranian military protection, the website quoted “private” sources as saying.  

Russia has granted Iran the “green light” to use the Latakia airport, part of which is controlled by Russian forces, according to the sources.   

The website added that an Ilyushin Iranian cargo plane landed at the Hmeimim base two days ago. IRGC generals were present for the unloading of the plane. The cargo was transferred to an unknown location held by Russian forces.   

The same aircraft had been used over the years to deliver weapons and ammunition to pro-Iranian militias in Syria.

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Arab World

In a First, Armed Gang in Gaza Forces Displacement of Residents

A Palestinian woman receives donated food at a community kitchen in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP)
A Palestinian woman receives donated food at a community kitchen in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP)
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In a First, Armed Gang in Gaza Forces Displacement of Residents

A Palestinian woman receives donated food at a community kitchen in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP)
A Palestinian woman receives donated food at a community kitchen in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP)

In an unprecedented development, an armed gang active in Gaza City forced inhabitants of residential bloc to evacuate their homes under threat of arms.

Field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that identified the gang as the “Rami Halas Group”. At dawn on Thursday, its members opened fire in the air in the Hayy al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City. The area is located near Israel’s so-called yellow line that separates Hamas- and Israel-held parts of Gaza.

The gang members came back hours later at noon and demanded that the residents evacuate, giving them until sunset to comply and threatening to shoot anyone who doesn’t.

The sources said the gunmen did not directly approach any of the residents for fear of being attacked. They used loudspeakers to demand that they evacuate to areas a few hundred meters away, claiming these were Israeli orders.

Israeli forces are deployed some 150 meters from the area where the residents were located.

The residents, who had only just returned to their homes after the ceasefire, indeed started to evacuate towards western parts of Gaza City.

The sources said over 240 residents were forced to quit what remains of their damaged homes.

They revealed that Israeli forces had on Tuesday and Wednesday night dropped yellow barrels, devoid of explosives, in those regions. They did not ask residents to evacuate.

The sources said the gang made the evacuation order ahead of Israel’s plan to occupy the area, which had been previously declared as safe.

They accused Israeli forces of resorting to such tactics in recent weeks to further expand the yellow line border and occupy more areas in Gaza.

Arab World

Syria Says Kills Senior ISIS Leader, Arrests Operative Near Damascus

A photo of a Public Security operation in Aleppo against an ISIS cell (File – Facebook)
A photo of a Public Security operation in Aleppo against an ISIS cell (File – Facebook)
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Syria Says Kills Senior ISIS Leader, Arrests Operative Near Damascus

A photo of a Public Security operation in Aleppo against an ISIS cell (File – Facebook)
A photo of a Public Security operation in Aleppo against an ISIS cell (File – Facebook)

Syrian authorities on Thursday said forces killed a senior leader in the ISIS group and arrested another operative in fresh operations near capital Damascus in coordination with the US-led coalition.

Syrian security and intelligence forces, working in coordination with the international coalition, conducted what the interior ministry described as a "precise security operation" in the Damascus countryside, AFP reported.

"The operation resulted in neutralising the terrorist Mohammad Shahada, known as 'Abu Omar Shaddad', who is considered one of the prominent ISIS leaders in Syria," it added.

"This operation comes as confirmation of the effectiveness of joint coordination between the national security agencies and international partners."

Later Thursday, the interior ministry said security forces "in joint coordination with international coalition forces" arrested "the leader of a terrorist cell affiliated with the ISIS organization" elsewhere near Damascus, seizing weapons and ammunition.

Late Wednesday, authorities said they captured Taha al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tabiya, an ISIS leader in the Damascus region, along with several of his men, also in a joint operation with the US-led coalition.

The interior ministry also said on Thursday that security forces had arrested three members of an ISIS-affiliated cell in Aleppo province.

A December 13 attack killed two US soldiers and an American civilian. Washington blamed the attack on a lone ISIS gunman in Syria's Palmyra.

In retaliation, US forces conducted strikes targeting scores of ISIS targets in Syria.

The strikes killed five members of the militant group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In November, during a visit by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to Washington, Syria officially joined the US-led coalition against ISIS.

Arab World

Israeli Settler Attack Injures Palestinian Baby, Five Arrested

Israeli settlers attacked farmers and volunteers harvesting olives on a Palestinian farm in Burin, near Nablus, on November 8, 2025. © Observers
Israeli settlers attacked farmers and volunteers harvesting olives on a Palestinian farm in Burin, near Nablus, on November 8, 2025. © Observers
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Israeli Settler Attack Injures Palestinian Baby, Five Arrested

Israeli settlers attacked farmers and volunteers harvesting olives on a Palestinian farm in Burin, near Nablus, on November 8, 2025. © Observers
Israeli settlers attacked farmers and volunteers harvesting olives on a Palestinian farm in Burin, near Nablus, on November 8, 2025. © Observers

Israeli security forces announced on Thursday the arrest of five Israeli settlers over their alleged involvement in an attack on a Palestinian home that injured a baby girl in the occupied West Bank.

The eight-month-old infant suffered "moderate injuries to the face and head" in the late Wednesday attack, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

It blamed the attack on "a group of armed settlers", accusing them of "throwing stones at homes and property" in the town of Sair, north of Hebron, AFP reported.

A statement from the Israeli police said that five suspects had been arrested for their "alleged involvement in serious, violent incidents in the village of Sair".

Israeli security forces had received reports of "stones being thrown by Israeli civilians toward a Palestinian home", adding a Palestinian girl was injured.

"The preliminary investigation determined the involvement of several suspects who came from a nearby outpost," the statement said, referring to Israeli settlements not officially recognized by Israeli authorities.

All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by the international community.

Some are also illegal under Israeli law, though many of those are later given official recognition.

Almost none of the perpetrators of previous attacks by settlers have been held to account by the Israeli authorities.

A Telegram group linked to the "Hilltop Youth", a movement of hardline settlers who advocate direct action against Palestinians, posted a video showing property damage in Sair.

More than 500,000 Israelis currently live in settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, as do around three million Palestinians.

Violence involving settlers has risen in recent years, according to the United Nations, and October was the worst month since it began recording such incidents in 2006, with 264 attacks that caused casualties or property damage.

The violence in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, has surged since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the Gaza war.

Since the start of the war, Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, including many militants as well as dozens of civilians, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the Palestinian health ministry.

According to official Israeli figures, at least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations in the same period.