Aleppo airport out of service after Israeli air attack: State media
Al JazeeraAug 31, 2023
The Facts
On Monday, Israeli airstrikes targeted the international airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, killing one Syrian soldier, state media said on Tuesday.
Syrian official media, citing a military official, reported that the airstrikes left two civilians and five Syrian soldiers injured and put the airport — a key channel for delivering aid to Syria following the February earthquake — out of service.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
Israel has been conducting airstrikes 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. This risky strategy underestimates the magnitude and repercussions of a military escalation.
Pro-establishment narrative
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 it is right to target Iranian assets in any of the countries into which Tehran has dug its tentacles.
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