DAMASCUS, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Aleppo International Airport in northern Syria has suspended operations after being hit by an Israeli missile attack, which is likely to delay the air transport of aid supplies to quake-hit regions for days, the Syrian army and a civil aviation official said Tuesday.
The attack occurred at 2:07 a.m. local time Tuesday (2300 GMT on Monday) from over Syria's Mediterranean coast in the west, leaving airport facilities damaged and out of service, the army said in a statement.
Director of Syria's General Organization for Civil Aviation Basem Mansour said about 79 aid planes have landed in Aleppo since the Feb. 6 quake, but the flights would be suspended for days until the airport was fixed.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Ministry slammed the Israeli attack as a double crime since it targeted a civil airport and one of the main channels for delivering aid to the quake victims, calling on the international community to put an end to such attacks.
"This aggression once again reflects the worst forms of barbarism and inhumanity of the Israeli entity and its practice of the most severe violations of international law, including international humanitarian law," the ministry said.
The earthquakes and powerful aftershocks in northern Syria and southern Türkiye on Feb. 6 have killed more than 50,000 people in both countries, leaving millions more displaced.
In Syria, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has coordinated supplies for 4.9 million people with urgent humanitarian needs for a period until May. ■
