Satellite images showed the devastation of Israel's attacks on Syrian airports that have left a massive hole in the middle of the runway and other damages.
The Wednesday attack on the Aleppo International Airport comes as an Israeli strike only months earlier struck the runway at the country's main airport in the capital, Damascus, over Iranian weapons transfers to the country.
Israel Strikes Syrian Airport
The satellite images that were taken on Thursday by Planet Labs PBC showed several vehicles gathered around the area of one of the strikes at the airport, near the western edge of its sole runway. The strike left a hole through the runway, as well as ignited a fire at the airfield.
Debris could be found just south of the runway damage near the military side of the airport which was the result of another strike that hit a structure that resembled either radio or navigational equipment in earlier satellite images. The images also showed nearby tarmac appearing to be burned, as per the Associated Press.
Similar to many Middle East nations, Syria has dual-use airports that include civilian and military sides. Flights at the airport have been disrupted by the attack and the country's Foreign Ministry on late Thursday described the damage from the attack as severe, saying it struck the runway and "completely destroyed the navigational station with its equipment.
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A UK-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, alleged that immediately after the strike, that Israel targeted an Iranian missile shipment to the Aleppo airport. Iran, as well as Lebanon's allied Hezbollah militant group, has been crucial to embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad remaining in his position since war began in his country in 2011.
According to Aljazeera, shortly before the attack, a transponder on an Antonov An-74 cargo airplane flown by Iran's Yas Air, sanctioned since 2012 by the U.S. Treasury over flying weapons on behalf of Tehran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, briefly pinged near Aleppo. The altitude and location of the aircraft suggested that it was planned to land at the airport.
War Between Two Nations
Cargo aircraft flying over Syria often do not broadcast their location and a phone number listed to Yas Air rang unanswered on Friday. Israel has already carried out hundreds of air raids against its neighbor since the war broke out, focusing primarily on government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters from Hezbollah.
While Israel rarely comments on any individual attack, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of strikes in Syria that it has said were necessary to prevent regional rival Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.
Official notice by Syrian aviation authorities said that the radio navigation system was out of service at the Damascus airport. Aurora Intel, a network that provides news and updates based on open-source intelligence, said that additional satellite images appeared to confirm damage was caused to the site.
Despite the strikes, airplanes continued to land at the airport throughout Thursday as another notice, known as a NOTAM, stated that the runway at the Aleppo airport was damaged, along with the navigational system that was seen damaged in the satellite photograph, the Times of Israel reported.
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