Israeli missiles bombed landing strips at Syria’s Damascus Airport and at its second-largest airport in Aleppo. It is likely no coincidence that a Meraj Airlines passenger jet reportedly carrying Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was on its way to Damascus at the time of the bombing. European’s Visegrád 24 reported that the flight also had “several commanders of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on board and several tons of anti-tank missiles for Hezbollah.”
Reports that Amirabdollahian was on board are credible since flight trackers show that the Meraj flight is a jet typically reserved for Amirabdollahian’s use. But another report claims that he was on a different flight. I’ll update as more reliable information comes in. Still waiting for more sources to confirm the anti-tank weapons.
Here’s video of the strike:
⚠️ JUST IN: Visuals show alleged Israeli air strikes targeting Damascus airport, 🇸🇾
RiseGS pic.twitter.com/SBOpqCRuNO
— Angelo Giuliano (@Angelo4justice3) October 12, 2023
As the BBC noted today, both airports “not only handle civil aviation but also host military bases, which are reportedly transit points for Iranian arms sent to Hezbollah.” No casualties have been reported at either airport, both of which Syria says remain closed until the landing strips can be repaired.
So score one for the good guys. And before we continue, I don’t want to hear one got-dam word about how Israel is “escalating” the conflict. Hezbollah is dedicated to Israel’s destruction and is funded and supported by both Damascus and Tehran. The fighting between Israel and Iran/Iranian Proxies has been going on for years. The only escalation going on started on Saturday with Hamas’ terror invasion of Israel.
Now, back to today’s news.
Syrian state media — there is no other kind — admitted that the strikes had “damaged landing strips in the two airports, putting them out of service.”
Presumably, those anti-tank missiles could have been used by Hezbollah to attack Israel from the north, as fighting rages further south in and around the Gaza strip. There was a scare earlier this week of Hezbollah paragliders coming from Lebanon, but that report turned out to be false.
Tehran says the Meraj flight has since landed in Baghdad, quite a bit further east than its planned destination. This flight tracker shows how Amirabdollahian’s flight was forced to turn tail for Baghdad:
IRAN05 flight, on plane usually used by Iran's FM, landing Baghdad now
ep-igd pic.twitter.com/GFHQCBLyIe— avi scharf (@avischarf) October 12, 2023
In Gaza, the war continues to intensify.
As part of the IDF’s siege of the Gaza Strip, electricity and water have both been shut off by Israel. (I’ll have a report later today showing how Hamas made Gaza dependent on Israel for both, just for our VIPs.) Jerusalem has said that it’ll restore both just as soon as Hamas releases the 150 or so hostages it kidnapped during the terror invasion earlier this week.
Hamas, naturally, has refused.
Imagine being in a position to restore electricity, fuel, food, and water to 2,000,000 people by simply releasing 150 innocent people you just kidnapped. That’s the choice Hamas is facing, and their decision will likely to affirm they’re the enemy of Israelis AND Palestinians.
— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@RepDeanPhillips) October 12, 2023
I’d like to shake Rep. Dean Philips’ hand right now. It’s nice to see that there’s at least one Minnesota Democrat — I’m giving you the side-eye, Ilhan Omar — who knows the difference between good and evil.
In today’s other bit of good news, Israeli Air Force jets reportedly bombed the bejeebus out of Hamas’ Intelligence and Security headquarters. Maybe the IAF got lucky and the I&S team was holding a big meeting of all the top people there this morning.
#BREAKING: #Israel Air Force destroyed headquarters of #Hamas Intelligence and Security branch in #Gaza today.#OperationIronSwords pic.twitter.com/5VfVu64rLG
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) October 12, 2023
Exit Question: Does this war have a name yet? Is it the Gaza War? Hamas War? Israeli-Palestinian War? Maybe we shouldn’t try to name it until we know who all the participants are.
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