Syrian Observatory: Top Commander among 4 Killed in Aleppo Strike

A view of Aleppo International Airport, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, Syria February 14, 2023. (Reuters)
A view of Aleppo International Airport, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, Syria February 14, 2023. (Reuters)
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Syrian Observatory: Top Commander among 4 Killed in Aleppo Strike

A view of Aleppo International Airport, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, Syria February 14, 2023. (Reuters)
A view of Aleppo International Airport, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, Syria February 14, 2023. (Reuters)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that the Israeli strike on Aleppo on Wednesday destroyed a weapons cache used by Iranian militias in the vicinity of Aleppo International Airport.

A top Syrian commander was among four killed in the attack.

One of the dead was another Syrian, while the other two have not been identified.

The attack had taken the airport out of service. It will resume operations on Friday.

This is the second time Israel strikes the airport within a month.

The airport has been a key channel for the flow of aid into the country after the Feb. 6 earthquake hit Türkiye and Syria, killing over 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.

Earlier this month, an Israeli airstrike put the airport out of service for several days and flights were rerouted to two other airports in war-torn Syria until the damage was fixed.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

Along with airports, Israel has also targeted seaports in government-held areas, an apparent attempt to prevent Iranian arms shipments to militant groups backed by Tehran, including Hezbollah.

Late on Wednesday, the Israeli military said a drone crashed in Syria while on a “routine operation.” It said no sensitive information had been lost and it was investigating the incident.



Iraq Seizes More than One Ton of Captagon Pills Shipped from Syria

Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)
Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)
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Iraq Seizes More than One Ton of Captagon Pills Shipped from Syria

Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)
Pills, which according to fighters loyal to the new ruling Syrian body are captagon, lay scattered next to a container, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 12, 2024. (Reuters)

Iraq's security forces have seized an estimated 1.1 ton of captagon pills hidden inside a truck that entered Iraq from Syria via Türkiye, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The drug shipment, the largest ever seized in Iraq, was tracked and intercepted with the assistance of "important information" provided by Saudi's drug enforcement agency, the Interior Ministry spokesperson Brigadier Muqdad Meri said in a televised statement.

Western anti-narcotics officials say the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant known as captagon has for years been mass-produced in Syria.

Captagon - a mix of amphetamines also known as the "poor man’s cocaine" - is one of the more popular recreational drugs in the Middle East.