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Four Airstrikes Hit Runway of Syria's Abu al-Duhur Air Base, First Since Assad's Fall

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of a military airfield burning at night: a long low line of orange and white flame runs across the flat dark horizon of the runway with dark wreckage silhouetted along it, heavy smoke billowing up into a near-black sky and a faint glow trailing off to the right, all drawn in warm ochre and slate-blue chalk and pastel strokes with cross-hatching on sepia newsprint.

Four airstrikes struck the runway of the Abu al-Duhur air base in the eastern Idlib countryside of northwestern Syria before dawn on Tuesday, the first attack on the base since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Reports describe material damage to the runway and no casualties, with illumination flares seen over the site. The aircraft were not identified, and no statement has come from Israel, Turkey, or the Syrian government; Arab outlets cited sources calling the strikes likely Israeli. The base is reported to host the new Syrian air force's Soviet-era Su-22 fighter-bombers, L-39 trainers, and helicopters, whose recent training flights had drawn Israeli concern.

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