File Photo: Former Syrian army MiG-23 fighter jets at the Abu Duhur military airport. AFP
"Israeli occupation aircraft early this morning targeted the runway of the Abu Duhur military airport... with eight strikes," Syrian state television quoted an unidentified military source as saying. The attack caused material damage to the airport's infrastructure but no casualties, the source said.
The airfield has been out of service since 2012 and is currently guarded by Syrian defence ministry forces. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes came after "a visit by a Turkish military delegation to the airfield in recent days as part of efforts to reactivate it".
The attack comes as Syria's new authorities seek to consolidate control and rebuild after years of war. They took control of Abu Duhur after coming to power; the airfield had been held by Assad's forces since late 2018, after rebels factions seized much of Idlib province.
The strike is part of a wider Israeli campaign in Syria that has intensified since Assad's fall. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across the country, targeting military assets belonging to the former Syrian army under the stated aim of preventing them from falling into the hands of the new authorities.
Israel has also repeatedly invaded Syrian territory, extending its occupation beyond the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into the UN-monitored demilitarized buffer zone between the Golan Heights and Syrian-controlled territory, in a further violation of a neighbouring sovereign state's territory.
Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the territory, a move not recognized by the international community.
The UN chief has condemned the incursions as "violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity".
Damascus has repeatedly condemned Israel's military actions in southern Syria. During a joint press conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Damascus last month, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa called for an "active French role" to halt Israeli escalations in his country.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also last month condemned "the continuation of Israeli military actions", warning that "the unlawful occupation of our land beyond the 1974 line is a direct threat to the security of the region". He demanded an "immediate and unconditional withdrawal".
But last week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israel planned to keep troops in Syria, despite Damascus's demands for their withdrawal.
The Israeli campaign has also heightened tensions with Turkey, a key ally of Syria's new authorities. Ankara has strongly criticized Israel's attacks on Syria and Lebanon and condemned its war on Gaza as genocide against Palestinians.
The Israeli military said "no comment" in response to an AFP inquiry about the strikes.
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