Syria Suspends Damascus Airport Flights after Israel Strike

Passengers wearing protective face masks arrive at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on Oct. 1, 2020. LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images
Passengers wearing protective face masks arrive at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on Oct. 1, 2020. LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images
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Syria Suspends Damascus Airport Flights after Israel Strike

Passengers wearing protective face masks arrive at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on Oct. 1, 2020. LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images
Passengers wearing protective face masks arrive at the Damascus International airport in the Syrian capital on Oct. 1, 2020. LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

Syria has suspended all flights to and from Damascus International Airport after an Israeli airstrike on Friday hit an area close to the facility, a pro-government newspaper reported.

Al-Watan said the strike left the runway damaged, without giving further details about the attack, The Associated Press said.

State news agency SANA confirmed that all flights have been suspended because “some technical equipment stopped functioning at the airport." It did not mention a strike.

The airport is located south of Damascus. Flightradar24 showed no flights in the vicinity of airport on Friday at noon.

The announcement came hours after Syria’s state media reported Israeli airstrikes on some military positions south of Damascus early Friday, wounding one person and causing material damage.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. It says it targets bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group that has fighters deployed in Syria and fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government forces, and arms shipments believed to be bound for the militias.



US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel," Biden said in the memo.

"While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States."

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.