Syria: Aleppo airport hit in Israeli attack, one soldier killed

(Patria) - The international airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was targeted in Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday morning, killing one Syrian soldier. The airport was put out of function, AP reported.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a military official, reported that two civilians and five other Syrian soldiers were wounded. Israeli authorities have not confirmed responsibility for the attack. The airport was a key channel for aid delivery to the country after the earthquake on February 6th struck Turkey and Syria, killing over 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), based in the United Kingdom, said the target of the attack was an ammunition depot next to the airport. It also reported Israeli attacks on the military airport in Aleppo, although Syrian state media did not report on this. In March, Israel attacked the airport in Aleppo on two separate occasions, putting it out of function for several days.

Israel, which seeks to halt Iranian entrenchment in its neighborhood, has carried out hundreds of attacks on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges them. SANA reported on Saturday that three civilians were wounded and a civilian gas station caught fire in Israeli airstrikes over Homs. SOHR said missiles destroyed an ammunition depot belonging to the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah at the military airport on the outskirts of Homs.