Israel hits airport in Syria, war monitor says

Israel hit Damascus International Airport, said a UK-based monitor on Tuesday.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that “Israeli missiles hit arms depots near the airport” after Syria’s state media reported that two Israeli missiles came down near the area. It did not add any details.

Mr Abdel Rahman said that the strike took place at 1am local time “without causing huge explosions” despite hitting weapons caches, adding that the Syrian air defence “failed to intercept the missiles”.

Israel has warned of a growing Iranian military presence in neighbouring Syria, which it sees as a threat to its safety.

Its military has been carrying out strikes on Iranian and Iran-affiliated targets in Syria, with a US official saying it was Israeli forces that carried out a deadly strike against an Iraqi paramilitary base in eastern Syria on June 17.

Israeli seized a large swathe of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in a move never recognised by the international community.