Israeli air raids put Syria’s Damascus, Aleppo airports out of service, 2 workers killed

Syria’s official news agency, citing an unnamed military source, reported that the strikes came simultaneously at around 5:35 a.m. local time (0235 GMT) on Sunday.

The source added that Israeli missiles fired from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights hit the Damascus International Airport, while jets flying over the Mediterranean Sea struck Aleppo International Airport in Syria’s second largest city.

Runways in both airports were damaged, causing all flights in and out of both airports to be canceled or diverted to an airport in the western coastal city of Latakia, according to the report.

At least two workers were killed “as a result of Israeli bombardment targeting Syria’s Damascus airport at dawn”, Syria’s general directorate of meteorology said in a statement.

The two workers who were killed were from the meteorology service and based at the airport, the agency announced.

Both airports were hit on October 12 and Aleppo was targeted a second time on October 14, according to Syrian aviation authorities.

Syria has been in the grip of foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies aid Takfiri terrorist groups that continue to wreak havoc in the country.

Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.

The Tel Aviv regime rarely comments on its attacks on Syrian territories, which many see as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s success in confronting and decimating terrorism.

Israel has been one of the main supporters of terrorist groups that oppose the democratically-elected government of President Bashar al-Assad since the foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria.