Israeli air strikes killed at least two Syrian soldiers and injured two others on Monday, January 2, SANA reported. The report quoted Syrian military sources who claimed that a barrage of missiles caused material damage to Damascus international airport and nearby areas, forcing the airport to shut down temporarily.
According to SANA, the air attacks were carried out from northern Israeli territory across Lake Tiberias around 2 am on Monday.
Damascus international airport was attacked by Israeli missiles earlier in June as well, after which it had to be shut down for two weeks. Israel has also targeted the airport in Aleppo in the past.
SANA reported a few hours later that airport authorities had carried out the required cleaning and repair work to make the airport operational around 9 am local time.
No comments have so far been made by the Israeli government or military regarding the air strike.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes and missile attacks inside Syria since the beginning of the war in 2011, killing hundreds of civilians and causing massive damage to civilian infrastructure. The last strikes were reported on December 19 and 20. Most often, Israel uses Lebanese air space to carry out the attacks within Syria.
Ordinarily, Israel neither confirms nor denies its involvement in these attacks. However, on the rare occasions when it does seek to justify the attacks on the pretext of domestic security, it claims that it has targeted alleged Iranian involvement and bases in Syria.
Syria has raised the issue of Israeli violations of its sovereignty several times at the UN in the past, asking that immediate action be taken against such contravention of international law and the UN charter. Recently, Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, Bassam Sabbagh, told the UN Security Council that Israel’s recurring air strikes within Syrian territory were one of the central reasons for the continuation of the war in the country. He said that if the world wanted peace in Syria, efforts need to be made to stop this Israeli aggression.
The Syrian government has accused Israel of using the military strikes inside its territories to aid anti-Assad forces and to prolong the war and the suffering of the people in the country. More than a decade of war in Syria has killed thousands of people and displaced almost half of its pre-war population.
