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Israeli Officials Consider Damascus Airport Bombing a Warning to Assad

Reconstruction of damaged parts of Damascus Airport after the Israeli attack (SANA)
Reconstruction of damaged parts of Damascus Airport after the Israeli attack (SANA)
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Israeli Officials Consider Damascus Airport Bombing a Warning to Assad

Reconstruction of damaged parts of Damascus Airport after the Israeli attack (SANA)
Reconstruction of damaged parts of Damascus Airport after the Israeli attack (SANA)

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.

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Arab World

MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

Medical aid agency MSF said on Friday it has been forced to suspend its activities at one of the few remaining hospitals in southern Khartoum due to repeated attacks, cutting off yet another lifeline for those who remain in the Sudanese capital.
War has been raging in Sudan since April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, triggering the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The hospital, which lies in territory controlled by the RSF, helped treat the victims of frequent airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces, as well as hundreds of malnourished women and children in an area where two neighborhoods have been judged at risk of famine, reported Reuters.
"In the 20 months MSF teams have worked alongside hospital staff and volunteers, Bashair Hospital has experienced repeated incidents of armed fighters entering the hospital with weapons and threatening medical staff, often demanding fighters be treated before other patients," MSF said in a statement.
"Despite extensive engagements with all stakeholders, these attacks have continued in recent months. MSF has now taken the very difficult decision to suspend all medical activities in the hospital."
The fighting in Sudan has cut off up to 80% of hospitals in conflict areas, where millions who cannot afford to escape the violence remain. Civilians face frequent air and artillery fire and hunger as supplies are blocked by both warring parties and prices skyrocket.
Medical facilities, including MSF-supported ones that have suspended operations, have frequently come under attack by RSF soldiers demanding treatment or looting supplies. Bashair Hospital has served more than 25,000 people, MSF said, including 9,000 hurt by blasts, gunshot wounds, and other violence.
"Sometimes dozens of people arrived at the hospital at the same time after shelling or airstrikes on residential areas and markets," MSF said in the statement, citing an incident on Sunday where an airstrike one kilometer away drove 50 people to the emergency room, 12 of them already dead.