AMMAN March 22 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike hit near Syria's Aleppo airport early Wednesday, causing "material damage" and shutting down operations there, Syrian officials said, while regional intelligence sources said the attack hit an Iranian arms depot.
In the third attack on Aleppo airport in six months, Israel launched "a number of missiles from the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 3:55 a.m.", the Syrian defence ministry said in a statement on state media.
Two regional intelligence sources said the strike hit an underground munitions depot linked to the nearby Nairab military airport, where missile systems delivered on several Iranian military planes had been stored.
Nairab military airport has been used regularly for Iranian arms deliveries and the movement of troops, the intelligence sources said.
An Israeli strike on March 7 that knocked Aleppo airport out of service blew up an Iranian arms cargo shipment hours after it was delivered by a plane that Damascus said was carrying aid, the Western intelligence sources say.