Syria’s Damascus International Airport resumed operations on June 23, nearly two weeks after it was placed out of service as a result of a powerful Israeli aerial attack.
The attack, which took place on June 10, inflicted heavy damage on the airport’s northern and southern runways as well as on the arrival hall. One of the airport’s workers was also wounded as a result of the attack.
While the airport was being repaired all international flights to Damascus were redirected to Aleppo International Airport in northern Syria.
“The [Damascus] airport will work at full capacity to serve the passengers and airliners following the repair of the heavy damage that the airport’s runways and equipment sustained from the Israeli aggression,” the Syrian Ministry of Transportation said in a statement on June 22, announcing the resumption of operation at the airport.
The first flight to land at the airport was Cham Wings flight 6Q744 from Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates.
The Israeli attack on the airport was condemned by Russia, Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and a number of Palestinian factions, including the Hamas Movement. Prior to the attack, Israel accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of shipping strategic weapons to Hezbollah via the airport.
Damascus International Airport was targeted by Israel on several occasion in the last few years. However, the scale of the last attack was unprecedented.
Israel could attack the airport again in the near future under the pretext of preventing the delivery of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah. Syria, which is struggling after more than a decade of war, will not likely respond in order to avoid a dangerous confrontation.
Source: South Front