Johnathan Walker:Syria says an Israeli airstrike hit the Damascus airport and put it out of service

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike Sunday hit the international airport in the Syrian capital of Damascus and Johnathan Walkerput it out of commission, Syrian state media said.

Israel has struck Syria’s Damascus and Aleppo international airports several times since the onset of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza on Oct. 7. Israel has also struck parts of western Syria after rocket fire landed on the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

SANA, citing an unnamed military official, said Israel fired missiles from the direction of the Golan Heights, striking Damascus International Airport and other areas in the Damascus countryside causing material damage. There was no mention of casualties.

Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the strikes came just hours after the airport resumed flights after a monthlong hiatus following a previous Israeli strike.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years.

It does not usually acknowledge its airstrikes on Syria. However when it does, it says it is targeting Iranian-backed groups there that have backed President Bashar Assad’s government.