Israel’s attack on Aleppo airport targets Hezbollah leaders – source

ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – The intensive Israeli attack on Aleppo International Airport on Tuesday targeted a plane that was about to take off, heading to Najaf in Iraq with two leaders of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah on, an exclusive source from the airport told North Press on Wednesday.

The source added, “The plane was about to take off on Tuesday evening, but ten minutes before takeoff and while the leaders were heading from their headquarters in Nayrab Military Heliport to the airport, the missiles fell down.”

Leaders of Hezbollah travel through shortcuts, especially between Aleppo airport and that of Nayrab, away from routine measures that all passengers are subjected to. They [Hezbollah leaders] enter the hall in the airport and immediately head to the plane, according to the source.

The attack occurred when the two leaders were approaching the runway in the airport, killing them, according to the source.

However, the state-run SANA News Agency only cited a military spokesman as saying, ” “Nearly at 20.16 p.m., the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression, with a number of missiles, from the direction of the Mediterranean to the West of Lattakia, targeting Aleppo international airport,” causing damage to the airport’s runway that became out of service.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry said on Twitter, “The repeated Israeli attacks, particularly the systematic and deliberate targeting of the civilian targets in Syria, the latest of which was targeting Aleppo International Airport yesterday, amount to a crime of aggression and a war crime in accordance with the international law.”

It stressed the need to held Israel accountable for these aggressions.

In one week, Israel targeted Aleppo airport two times, in addition to targeting other military sites in the Syrian capital, Damascus and its countryside.

Reporting by Muhammad al-Qadi