Syria says Israel attacks Damascus airport, killing five soldiers

Israeli children play alongside an Israeli flag beside the Israel-Syria border in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 23, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo

The Israeli Ministry of Defense said, in the early hours of Saturday morning, that Israel launched an air strike on Damascus International Airport and other sites south of the capital, killing five soldiers and causing material damage.

A ministry statement said that the Syrian air defenses intercepted the attack and were able to shoot down most of the missiles.

There was no immediate confirmation of whether the raid affected airport operations.

The Israeli military said it did not comment on the foreign reports.

Diplomatic and regional intelligence sources told Reuters that Israel has intensified its strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Iran’s increasing use of air supply lines to deliver weapons to its allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Hezbollah.

Tehran has adopted air transport as a more reliable means of transporting military equipment to its forces and allied fighters in Syria, after ground transport operations were disrupted.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died and millions displaced since protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 turned into a civil war that drew in foreign powers and left Syria divided into zones of control.

(covered by Kinda Makiya, Enas Al-Ashry and Naira Abdullah). Written by Moataz Mohamed. Editing by Chris Reese, Grant McCall, and William Mallard

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