Israeli officials leaked to the Hebrew media that the recent attack on Damascus International Airport was primarily to warn Bashar al-Assad's regime that submitting to the Iranian regime and its goals will cost a heavier price than getting rid of it.
The officials told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper Sunday that Israel decided to increase its strikes against the Syrian regime and its forces.
Tel Aviv believes Assad is involved in a double act where the regime says it is not interested in maintaining its alliance with Iran and wants to be freed from its restrictions, and at the same time, allows the transfer of weapons and equipment to the Lebanese Hezbollah and allows Iranian militias to expand their presence towards the border with Israel.
The officials noted that Assad fears the loss resulting from turning his back on Iran and must realize that the price for continuing this approach will be harsher than getting rid of Iran.
They considered the bombing of the old Damascus airport to be the beginning of the end. They believe this airport is used to receive top officials of the Revolutionary Guards Corps and Iranian intelligence.
The Syrian Ministry of Transport suspended flights to and from Damascus International Airport "until further notice" on Friday after Israeli air strikes damaged the airstrip and a terminal.
A Syrian military official quoted by the state news agency SANA said Syrian air defenses intercepted the Israeli missiles, downing most of them, but the early morning attack wounded one civilian and caused some material damage.
Cham Wings Airline, a private Syrian carrier, said it was rerouting all its flights to Aleppo International Airport.
The transport ministry said the airport had stopped all flights, and a later statement said Israeli air strikes damaged the runway and one of the terminals.
"As a result of this damage, all arriving and departing flights at the airport have been suspended until further notice," the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced that the Mossad, in cooperation with Turkish intelligence, thwarted an Iranian attack on Israeli targets inside Turkish territory last month.
The state TV channel Kan 11 quoted sources at the security services in Tel Aviv as saying that Israeli security officials briefed their counterparts in Ankara on the alleged Iranian attack plan, and they immediately thwarted it.
Kan 12 confirmed the news, adding that the Turkish intelligence services revealed a network of Iranian agents who planned to strike Israeli targets in retaliation for the assassination of IRGC's Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodaei last month.
Israel claims that its security services have been monitoring Iranian attempts to launch attacks against Israeli targets abroad for more than two years.
However, the Israeli National Security Council issued a public travel warning to Israeli citizens for Turkey after reports of "concrete and immediate" Iranian threats to target Israeli tourists, not just diplomats and businessmen.
Israel's Kan 12 reported that Israeli security officials called and directly warned more than 100 Israeli citizens in Turkey and asked them to return.
The Channel claimed that Iran identified Israeli citizens in Turkey and included them on its target lists, noting that about 40,000 Israelis are currently in Turkey.
