Syria denounced this Thursday two simultaneous attacks carried out by Israeli aviation against international airports Damascus and Aleppo (northwest), in the midst of the war between the Jewish State and Hamas militias across the border, Syrian state television reported. At around 1:50 p.m. local time (10:50 GMT), the Israeli aviation launched missiles “simultaneously” against both airfields, causing material damage to the landing strips and forcing suspend air traffic in both facilities, according to SANA, which cites an unidentified military source.

The source considered the double attack as “a desperate attempt by the Israeli enemy to divert attention of the crimes he is committing in Gaza and the great losses he is suffering at the hands of the Palestinian resistance,” the official media reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO based in the United Kingdom and a wide network of collaborators on the ground, has confirmed on its X account (formerly Twitter) that they have heard strong explosions in both cities caused by “Israeli attacks within the perimeter” of said airfields.

Frequent attacks

Israel attacks relatively frequently the Syrian territorymost often with missiles by its aviation and less commonly by land from its side of the divide, although this is the first major attack since the start of the war with Gaza last Saturday.

The actions of the Jewish State in Syria are usually directed against targets of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollahwhich in recent days has launched several attacks against Israeli troops from southern Lebanon; or against the Iranian militias, which this week have reinforced their presence on the Syrian border with the Golan.

Both Hezbollah and other armed groups supported by Tehran are present in Syrian territory and are allies of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, while Israel considers their permanence in that neighboring country a threat to Israeli security. So far, there has only been a single incident in Syrian territory related to the war between Israel and the Gaza militias, a mortar launch carried out on Tuesday night from the south of the country towards the Golan occupied by the Jewish State.

For now, It is unknown if it is a wake-up call to prevent some of these actors from getting involved in violence from Syria, if they sought to cut off their air supply routes or if they even intended to reach militia targets, with a presence near the airport.