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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

Italian Authorities Arrest 9 for Allegedly Funding Hamas Through Charities

Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Italian Authorities Arrest 9 for Allegedly Funding Hamas Through Charities

Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Italian authorities arrested nine people linked to three charitable organizations on suspicion of raising millions of euros in funds for the Palestinian group Hamas, anti-terrorism prosecutors said in a statement Saturday. 

The suspects are accused of sending about 7 million euros ($8.2 million) to “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas,” the statement said. 

Among those arrested was Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian Association in Italy, prosecutors said, describing him as the “head of the Italian cell of the Hamas organization.” 

The European Union has Hamas listed on its terror list. 

According to Italian prosecutors, who collaborated with other EU countries in the probe, the illegal funds were delivered through “triangulation operations” via bank transfers or through organizations based abroad to associations based in Gaza, which have been declared illegal by Israel for their ties to Hamas. 

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi wrote on X that the operation “lifted the veil on behavior and activities which, pretending to be initiatives in favor of the Palestinian population, concealed support for and participation in terrorist organizations.” 

There was no immediate comment from the suspects or the associations. 

In January 202, the European Council decided to extend existing restrictive measures against 12 individuals and three entities that support the financing of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. 

Arab World

Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
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Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)

Türkiye held a military funeral ceremony Saturday morning for five Libyan officers, including western Libya’s military chief, who died in a plane crash earlier this week.

The private jet with Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other military officers and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Ankara, Türkiye’s capital, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military.

The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, after holding defense talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.

Saturday's ceremony was held at 8:00 a.m. local time at the Murted Airfield base, near Ankara, and attended by the Turkish military chief and the defense minister. The five caskets, each wrapped in a Libyan national flag, were then loaded onto a plane to be returned to their home country.

Türkiye’s military chief, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, was also on the plane headed to Libya, state-run news agency TRT reported.

The bodies recovered from the crash site were kept at the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute for identification. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told reporters their DNA was compared to family members who joined a 22-person delegation that arrived from Libya after the crash.

Tunc also said Germany was asked to help examine the jet's black boxes as an impartial third party.

Arab World

Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
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Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)

A source from the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the talks with the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over their integration into state institutions “have not yielded tangible results.”

Discussions about merging the northeastern institutions into the state remain “hypothetical statements without execution,” it told Syria’s state news agency SANA.

Repeated assertions over Syria’s unity are being contradicted by the reality on the ground in the northeast, where the Kurds hold sway and where administrative, security and military institutions continue to be run separately from the state, it added.

The situation “consolidates the division” instead of addressing it, it warned.

It noted that despite the SDF’s continued highlighting of its dialogue with the Syrian state, these discussions have not led to tangible results.

It seems that the SDF is using this approach to absorb the political pressure on it, said the source. The truth is that there is little actual will to move from discussion to application of the March 10 agreement.

This raises doubts over the SDF’s commitment to the deal, it stressed.

Talk about rapprochement between the state and SDF remains meaningless if the agreement is not implemented on the ground within a specific timeframe, the source remarked.

Furthermore, the continued deployment of armed formations on the ground that are not affiliated with the Syrian army are evidence that progress is not being made.

The persistence of the situation undermines Syria’s sovereignty and hampers efforts to restore stability, it warned.