Israel Allegedly Strikes Syria’s Aleppo Airport Again

Facts

• The Syrian defense ministry said Wednesday that Israel launched an air attack on Aleppo International Airport at around 3:55 a.m. local time, causing some "material damage" in reportedly the second strike this month.¹
• The UK-based war monitor, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that the attack was aimed at a weapons and ammunition warehouse, which two Israeli intelligence sources claim is associated with the Nairab military airport suspected of housing equipment delivered by Iran.²
• Israel has, in recent years, carried out hundreds of attacks against what it says are Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting Pres. Bashar al-Assad in the civil war beginning in 2011. Wednesday's missile strike was the third such attack on Aleppo airport in six months.³
• According to three unnamed Western intelligence sources, Iran has increased the use of Nairab airport in recent weeks to deliver more arms amid heavy air traffic as cargo planes offload relief aid following February's deadly earthquake.⁴
• Damascus, however, denies that Tehran has a substantial military presence in the country and says the recent strikes on the airport have interfered with aid delivery to quake victims.⁴
• Earlier this month, Syrian state media reported that an Israeli air raid on Aleppo airport had damaged a runway, taking it out of service. Relief supplies were rerouted to Damascus and Latakia.³

Sources: ¹VOA, ² Haaretz, ³Al Jazeera, and ⁴ Reuters.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Foreign Affairs. Israel has been carrying out air strikes against suspected Iranian weapons transfers and personnel and its proxies in Syria for almost a decade. Though the strikes are part of a low-intensity conflict to slow Iran's growing entrenchment in Syria, the West has seemingly dropped its previous plan of diplomacy to allow Israel and other allies to, instead, use military force to settle its grievances with Tehran — a risky strategy that underestimates the magnitude and repercussions of a military escalation.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Times of Israel. Syria is a conflict zone with many actors, all of which can cause this "shadow war" to go hot, and Iran — with its coordinated effort with Russia, which controls much of the Syrian airspace — risks pushing it over the edge. Israel has been clear that it will not permit Iran to freely move weapons and fighters through Syria if such activities threaten Israeli security, and is right to target Iranian assets in any of the countries into which Tehran has dug its tentacles.

Predictions