Syria halts flights to and from Damascus, hours after Israeli attack

A SyrianAir Airbus A340-300 is pictured at Damascus Worldwide Airport, on its re-opening day for normal worldwide business visitors after months of closure following the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) outbreak, on this handout launched by SANA on October 1, 2020, Syria. SANA/Handout through REUTERS/File Photograph

DAMASCUS, June 10 (Reuters) – Syria halted flights to and from Damascus Worldwide Airport “till additional discover” on Friday after Israeli air strikes broken the airstrip and a terminal, the transport ministry mentioned.

A Syrian navy official quoted by the state information company SANA mentioned Syrian air defences intercepted the Israeli missiles, downing most of them, however that the early morning assault wounded one civilian and brought about some materials injury.

Cham Wings Airline, a personal Syrian service, mentioned it was rerouting all its flights to Aleppo Worldwide Airport.

The transport ministry mentioned the airport had stopped all flights, and a later assertion mentioned Israeli air strikes broken the runway and one of many terminals.

“On account of this injury, all arriving and departing flights on the airport have been suspended till additional discover,” the ministry’s second assertion mentioned.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights mentioned on Friday the Israeli bombing had broken the runway after focusing on “warehouses of Iranian militias” close to the airport.

An Israeli navy spokesperson declined to remark.

For a number of years, Israel has been attacking what it has described as Iranian-linked targets in Syria, the place Tehran-backed forces, together with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have deployed to assist President Bashar al-Assad.

Iranian International Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian condemned the assault as a “clear violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity… (and) opposite to worldwide regulation and human rules”, in a telephone name together with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, Iran’s state media reported.

Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Yomna Ehab in Cairo, Kinda Makieh, and Dubai newsroom; Writing by Lina Najem, Enhancing by Catherine Evans, Angus MacSwan and Alex Richardson

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.