This satellite photo released by Planet Labs PBC shows the damage after an Israeli attack hit the Aleppo International Airport in September 2022. Israeli missiles hit the airport again on March 22, 2023, Syria's defense ministry said [File: Planet Labs PBC via AP]

Damascus, March 22 (RHC)-- An Israeli air attack has hit Syria’s Aleppo airport causing some “material damage” in the second strike on the facility this month, the Syrian defense ministry has said, according to news reports.

Marking the third attack on Aleppo International Airport in six months, Israel launched “a number of missiles from the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal city of Latakia, at 3:55 am” (00:55 GMT), the defense ministry said early on Wednesday in a statement on Facebook.

Aleppo International Airport has been a major channel for the flow of humanitarian aid into the country since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6, killing more than 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.

Earlier this month, Syrian state media said that an Israeli air raid on Aleppo airport had damaged a runway, which was taken out of service forcing the rerouting of relief supplies to Damascus and Latakia.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air attacks against Syria but rarely admits responsibility.  Israeli officials say the attacks are aimed at suspected Iranian-sponsored weapons dumps and personnel.

The attacks are said to be part of an escalation of what has been a low-intensity conflict against what Israel describes as Iran-linked targets in Syria that support President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war, which started in 2011.