The runway of a military airport in northwestern Syria was targeted by unidentified fighter jets Monday overnight, with Damascus blaming Israel for the airstrike.
“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, adding that “the attack resulted in material damage to the airport’s infrastructure, without causing casualties.”
There has been no official comment from Israel on the reports, and the Syrian defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The Al Jazeera news outlet reported that the strikes hit the runway of Abu Duhur Military Airport near Idlib — some 70 kilometers (44 miles) from the border with Turkey — and the Al Hadath site described them as “likely Israeli.”
Israel has been seeking to prevent Turkish entrenchment and influence in Syria, and in the past has carried out strikes purportedly to stop Turkey from assisting in building up the new Syrian government’s air force.
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The base has been out of service as a dedicated military airfield since 2013 and has changed hands several times during Syria’s 14-year civil war between forces loyal to former president Bashar al-Assad and opposition factions.
أعمدة الدخان تتصاعد من مطار أبو الظهور العسكري بريف إدلب السورية جراء الغارات الإسرائيلية على مدرج المطار ومواقع أخرى داخله. https://t.co/3WAYPHdZFe pic.twitter.com/u2hX6m1kzX
— Ali A.bk (@ABKt198990) August 18, 2026
Since Assad was ousted in late 2024, the base has been used as a training center for Syria’s new army, according to a military source.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, the strikes came after “a visit by a Turkish military delegation to the airfield in recent days as part of efforts to reactivate it.”
Syria conducted air exercises in the north of the country in early August using Russian-made MiG-21 fighter jets, the first such exercises since Assad’s ouster.
Kan news reported last week that Israeli security officials had detected signs that Syria was accelerating efforts to rebuild its air force, including the recruitment of new pilots, flight training and a first exercise involving fighter aircraft. Kan quoted an Israeli security source as saying Israel was closely monitoring the developments and had shared its concerns with the United States.
If confirmed to be an Israeli airstrike, it would mark the first such attack by the Israeli Air Force since March, when the IDF said it hit Syrian military camps in the country’s south in response to an alleged attack on Druze civilians in the Sweida area. Before that, in July 2025, the IDF bombed the Syrian general staff command building in Damascus, also in response to attacks on the Druze.
The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries.
Israeli troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (9 miles) deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”
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