Israeli strikes in Syria force closure of Aleppo airport

Israeli air strikes on Aleppo airport in northern Syria caused the grounding of flights on Monday, the Assad regime's news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

During more than 12 years of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as regime positions.

"At about 4:30 am (0130 GMT) this morning, the Israeli enemy undertook an aerial aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport," the source said, adding that this resulted in damage to the runway.

Israel rarely comments on strikes it carries out in Syria, but has repeatedly said it will not allow its regional rival Iran to expand its presence in the country.

An Israeli army spokesperson on Monday told AFP: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."

Syrian regime transport ministry official Suleiman Khalil said the damage centred on the only functioning runway, adding that "maintenance teams will start repair work today to return the airport to service as quickly as possible".

Flights were diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports, he told AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes also targeted weapons depots at the adjacent Nayrab military airport.

Israeli strikes have repeatedly caused the grounding of flights at the airports in Aleppo and the capital Damascus, both of which are controlled by the regime.

In early May, Israeli strikes on the Aleppo area killed four Assad regime officers and three Iran-backed fighters and forced a halt to flights, according to the war monitor.

Israel strikes put the airport out of service twice in March.

Three people were killed during a March 7 strike, while another strike two weeks later destroyed a suspected arms depot used by Iran-backed militias at Aleppo airport, the Britain-based Observatory reported.

Monday's strikes come a week after two regime fighters were killed in Israeli air strikes on sites near Damascus, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground in Syria.

Syria's war, which began in 2011 when the Assad regime violently suppressed peaceful protests, has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country's infrastructure and industry.

Bashar al-Assad has relied heavily on foreign intervention from Iran and Russia, with both helping his regime reconquer much of the territory taken by rebels early on in the conflict.