Syria's Ministry of Transport has closed Damascus airport to all commercial traffic following Israeli missile strikes on June 10 which severely damaged both of the aerodrome's runways - 05R/23L and 05L/23R - as well as an old passenger hall and its runway lighting system. A NOTAM issued on June 11, the latest to date, said only that 05L/23R had been closed until June 20 at the earliest owing to ongoing works.
State-owned carrier Syrianair (RB, Damascus) said in a statement it would have to wait for repairs to be carried out before resuming flights given the bulk of its operational fleet had been in Damascus at the time of the bombing. Though coverage of its fleet is sporadic, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows a Syrianair A340-300 and an A320-200 to have been at the airport at the time of the attack.
For its part, privately-owned Cham Wings Airlines (SAW, Damascus) has shifted its base of operations to Aleppo airport, the official SANA news agency said. Flightradar24 shows two of its three A320s are currently active in and out of the northern Syrian airfield.
Israel often targets Syrian airports it suspects of being a conduit for advanced weaponry being supplied to Hizbollah by the IRGC in Iran. More recently, the Israeli Defense Forces claimed that the son-in-law of the now deceased Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, was behind the use of Damascus airport for such ferry flights.
