An Israeli satellite company published pictures showing that Damascus Airport was severely damaged following it was targeted by an Israeli raid, on Friday.
ImageSat International said in a tweet that the raid had “completely disrupted” operations at the airport’s runway.
She added that the two runways of Damascus airport appeared to have been bombed three times.
According to the company, the strikes significantly affected the runway and obstructed the landing of large aircraft.
New imagery of #Damascus international Airport shows extensive damage to both military & civilian runways from this morning’s strikes.This comes following Syria’s Ministry of Transport halted flights to and from the airport. pic.twitter.com/ng5Ui6vyEn
— ImageSat Intl. (@ImageSatIntl) June 10, 2022
The Syrian Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Saturday that flights through Damascus International Airport were suspended, until the completion of the repair work that started on Saturday.
It added that “its cadres in civil aviation and the competent national companies are working on (…) to repair the great damage caused to the airport,” and the navigational traffic suspended since Friday will resume “as soon as it is repaired and ensures its safety and security.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the opposition, had previously reported that the only damaged runway was in service at the airport following the second runway was damaged and stopped working as a result of “Israeli strikes” targeting shipments and arms depots belonging to pro-Iranian groups on the airport campus in 2021.
On May 20, bursts of Israeli surface-to-surface missiles killed at least three Syrian officers near Damascus, according to the observatory.
He added that following the attack, fire broke out within the Iranian militia sites in the vicinity of Damascus International Airport, as ambulances were seen rushing to the targeted places.
Israel rarely confirms carrying out strikes in Syria, but it reiterates that it will continue to confront what it describes as Iran’s attempts to establish its military presence in that country.
Israel has repeatedly accused Iran of smuggling weapons and missile development systems from Tehran to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, using civilian flights through Syria.
