The Israeli army yesterday carried out a missile strike on Damascus International Airport that killed four people, including two Syrian soldiers, according to a human rights monitor.
This is the second time in less than seven months that the Damascus airport, where Iranian-backed armed groups and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are present, has been hit by Israel.
The attack, which occurred at about 2am, put the country’s main airport out of service, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
Photo: AFP
Israel carried out the strike with “barrages of missiles, targeting Damascus International Airport and its surroundings,” a military source told SANA, which reported that two Syrian soldiers were killed.
However, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) — which relies on a wide network of sources on the ground in Syria — said four people had died in the early morning attack.
“Four fighters, including two Syrian soldiers, were killed” by the Israeli strike, SOHR director Rami Abdul Rahman said.
The missiles also hit “positions for Hezbollah and pro-Iranian groups inside the airport and its surroundings, including a weapons warehouse,” he added.
Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbor, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters from Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
While Israel rarely comments on specific reports of its attacks, it has repeatedly said it would not allow Iran to gain a foothold in Syria.
Yesterday’s strike comes days after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Head of the Operations Directorate Major General Oded Basiuk presented the army’s operational outlook for this year.
“We see that our course of action in Syria is an example of how continuous and persistent military action leads to shaping and influencing the entire region,” the IDF wrote on Twitter regarding Basiuk’s presentation. “We will not accept Hezbollah 2.0 in Syria.”
The airport is in a region south of Damascus where Iranian-backed groups, including Hezbollah, regularly operate.
The last time the airport was out of service was in June last year — also after an Israeli missile strike. The runway, control tower, three hangars, warehouses and reception rooms were badly damaged in that attack — forcing the airport to close for about two weeks and flights to be suspended.
Just as with yesterday’s attack, the SOHR said at the time that the strikes had targeted nearby warehouses used as weapons depots by Iran and Hezbollah. The conflict in Syria began with the brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers and global jihadists.
About 500,000 people have been killed, and the conflict has forced about half of the country’s pre-war population from their homes.
Although hostilities have largely abated in the past three years, sporadic fighting at times breaks out and jihadist attacks continue, mainly in the east of the country.
Syria last year experienced its lowest yearly death toll since the conflict began more than a decade ago. At least 3,825 people died in the Syrian war last year, according to figures compiled by the SOHR — down from the previous year’s 3,882.
Among those killed last year were 1,627 civilians, including 321 children, the SOHR said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS