Syria's foreign minister warned Israel on Thursday it was “playing with fire” after it launched missile attacks on the country this week.
Strikes near Damascus and on Aleppo's international airport on Wednesday evening left a hole on the runway and damaged a section of tarmac and a structure on the military side of the airfield, satellite photos analysed by AP showed on Friday.
Air defences shot down other Israeli missiles around the capital.
Faisal Al Meqdad said Israel was threatening the security of the region with its air strikes.
“Israel is playing with fire and is putting the regional military and security situations at risk of an explosion,” the foreign minister was quoted by state news agency Sana as saying.
“Syria will not remain silent regarding the repeated Israeli attacks and the Israelis will pay the price sooner or later.”
Satellite photos taken on Thursday by Planet Labs PBC showed vehicles gathered around the site of one of the strikes at the airport, near the western edge of its sole runway.
The strike left a hole on the runway and ignited a grassfire at the airfield.
South of the runway damage, debris lay scattered after another strike hit an object on the tarmac and another structure.
Syria has dual-use airports that include civilian and military areas.
Flights at the airport were disrupted by the attack, AP reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said immediately after the strike that Israela aimed at an Iranian missile shipment to the Aleppo airport.
Iran, as well as Lebanon’s allied Hezbollah militant group, have helped Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to remain in power since a civil war began in 2011.
Ping from US-sanctioned aircraft
Shortly before the strike, a transponder on an Antonov An-74 cargo plane, flown by Iran’s Yas Air, briefly pinged near Aleppo, according to flight-tracking data. The altitude and location suggested the plane planned to land in Aleppo.
The aircraft was sanctioned years earlier by the US Treasury over flying weapons on behalf of Iran's paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Cargo aircraft over Syria often do not broadcast their location data.
Israel did not directly acknowledge Wednesday’s strike.
The country has carried out a series of strikes in Syria in recent years, mainly aimed at convoys allegedly carrying weapons or sites housing munitions belonging to allied fighters from Iran.
In June, Syria blamed Israel for aerial attacks on its main international airport in Damascus that put it out of commission for several weeks.
Israeli defence officials said the civilian airport had been used regularly by Iran to transport weapons and militias.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday said one person was killed while three were wounded in Israel's shelling of Damascus.
Two Israeli missiles were aimed at Syrian military sites where Hezbollah-affiliated militias were present, it said.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
When Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi
Known as The Lady of Arabic Song, Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 1971, as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. A concert hall was constructed for the event on land that is now Al Nahyan Stadium, behind Al Wahda Mall. The audience were treated to many of Kulthum's most well-known songs as part of the sold-out show, including Aghadan Alqak and Enta Omri.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
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If you go
The flights
Emirates (www.emirates.com) and Etihad (www.etihad.com) both fly direct to Bengaluru, with return fares from Dh 1240. From Bengaluru airport, Coorg is a five-hour drive by car.
The hotels
The Tamara (www.thetamara.com) is located inside a working coffee plantation and offers individual villas with sprawling views of the hills (tariff from Dh1,300, including taxes and breakfast).
When to go
Coorg is an all-year destination, with the peak season for travel extending from the cooler months between October and March.
